THE  LIFE  OF 

REVERDY 
JOHNSON 


BERNARD  C.  STEIN 


Life  of 
Reverdy  Johnson 


By  BERNARD  C.  STEINER,  PH.D.,  LL.B. 

Librarian    of  the   Enoch   Pratt   Free  Library   of  Baltimore   City 


WITH     PORTRAIT 


THE  NORMAN,  REMINGTON  CO. 
BALTIMORE 


COPYRIGHT   1914   BY 

THE  NORMAN,  REMINGTON  CO 
PuBtrsHED  SEPTEMBER.  ion 


COMPOSED  AND  PRINTED  AT  THE 

WAVERLY  PRESS 
Br  THE  WILLIAMS  &  WILKINS  CoMPANt 
BALTIMORE,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

After  the  argument  of  his  first  case  in  the  Supreme  Court 
in  1806,  another  Maryland  lawyer  (Luther  Martin  was  the 
first), William  Pinkney,  stepped  to  the  front,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death  in  1822 — the  undisputed  head  of  the  American 
Bar  (Warren,  History  of  American  Bar,  p.  259). 

William  Pinkney  remained  the  undisputed  head  of  the  Bar, 
until  his  death  in  1822.  Thereafter  Daniel  Webster  over 
shadowed  all  others  in  the  importance  of  cases  argued  and  in 
the  mastery  of  the  great  principles  of  constitutional  law  (op. 
cit.,  p.  368). 

William  Wirt  of  Maryland  continued  in  constant  and  vigor 
ous  practise  until  his  death  in  1834,  and  his  place  at  the  Bar 
was  taken  by  Reverdy  Johnson,  who,  for  many  years  after 
Webster's  death,  was  regarded  as  the  leading  American  lawyer 
(op.  cit.,  p.  411). 

The  paragraphs  which  have  just  been  quoted  show  the 
esteem  in  which  the  subject  of  this  biography  is  held  as 
a  lawyer.  His  eminence  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
practice  at  the  bar.  Entering  politics,  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  as  a  Whig,  and,  though  he 
supported  the  loose  construction  and  protective  princi 
ples  of  his  party,  he  broke  from  it  as  to  the  Mexican  War. 
In  Taylor's  cabinet  he  served  as  attorney  general.  At 
the  break  up  of  the  Whig  party,  he  became  a  follower  of 
Douglas.  A  Border  State  Union  man,  his  efforts  were 
notable  in  1861  to  prevent  the  secession  of  his  state. 
While  serving  a  second  term  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
his  mediating  position  was  an  important  one.  He  was 
thoroughly  loyal,  yet  sympathized  with  the  Southern  peo 
ple  and,  in  the  difficult  period  of  reconstruction,  he  did 
much  towards  ameliorating  conditions.  But  for  him 

iii 


308707 


IV  PREFACE 

Andrew  Johnson  would  have  been  convicted,  when 
impeached.  Sent  to  England  as  United  States  minister, 
he  negotiated  the  Johnson-Clarendon  treaty,  which, 
though  rejected,  was  the  basis  of  the  arrangement  under 
which  the  difficulties  with  Great  Britain  were  finally 
adjusted.  The  life  of  a  man  whose  career  was  so  impor 
tant  is  worthy  of  being  written.  The  author's  especial 
attention  was  drawn  thereto,  when  he  was  asked  to  pre 
pare  a  sketch  of  Johnson  for  the  series  of  Great  American 
Lawyers,  edited  by  Professor  William  Draper  Lewis. 
So  much  interesting  material  was  then  collected  that  it 
has  now  been  worked  up  into  this  extended  biography. 
Great  assistance  has  been  found  in  the  valuable  collec 
tions  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society.  The  frontis 
piece  is  a  reproduction  of  the  photograph  of  Johnson  best 
liked  by  his  family.  Especial  thanks  are  due  to  Clayton 
C.  Hall,  Esq.,  who  married  Mr.  Johnson's  granddaughter, 
for  his  interest  and  criticism. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

CHAPTER  I 
Early  Life  and  Legal  Practice  (1796-1845) i 

CHAPTER  II 
Senator,  Attorney-General,  Lawyer  (1845-1860) 22 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Struggle  in  Maryland  to  Preserve  the  Union  (1860-1862)     43 

CHAPTER  IV 
Service  in  the  Senate  during  the  War  (1863-1865) 61 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Thirty-Ninth  Congress  and  Reconstruction  (1865-1867)   118 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Impeachment  Session  (1867-1868) 198 

CHAPTER  VII 
Minister  to  England  (1868-1869) 233 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Last  Years  and  Death  (1869-1876) 259 

Index   273 


CHAPTER  I 
EARLY  LIFE  AND  LEGAL  PRACTICE  (1796-1845) 

The  influence  of  the  lawyer  has  been  great  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  and  in  no  state  has  it  been  greater 
than  in  Maryland.  Men  of  eminent  ability  have  shed 
lustre  on  the  bar  in  Maryland  for  two  centuries,  from 
the  time  that  Andrew  Hamilton,  who  became  the  first 
American  with  a  continental  legal  reputation,  prepared 
a  revision  of  the  Provincial  statutes,  while  he  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  I7I5.1  From  that 
time  onward,  the  roll  of  legal  worthies  is  a  long  and 
honored  one,  bearing  such  names  as  those  of  the  Dulanys, 
of  Chase,  of  Paca,  of  Martin,  of  Pinkney,  and  of  Taney. 
With  the  very  first  of  these  in  ability  and  reputation, 
stands  the  name  of  Reverdy  Johnson,  who  was  esteemed 
by  other  members  of  his  profession  so  highly  that  for 
a  number  of  years  before  his  death  he  was  considered 
the  leader  of  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.2  He  was  not  alone  a  lawyer,  but  also  was  inter 
ested  in  governmental  affairs,  as  so  many  attorneys- 
at-law  have  been,  and  became  an  important  figure  in 
National  politics  during  the  latter  portion  of  his  life. 
At  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  he  took  the  side  of  the 
Union  and  like  another  eminent  member  of  the  Balti 
more  bar,  Henry  Winter  Davis,  rendered  noteworthy 
public  service  to  the  country.3 

1  See  Vol.  20,  Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  October,  1896,  and  Report  of  American 
Hist.  Ass.  for  1899,  p.  229. 

2  See  N.  Sergeant's  Public  Men  and  Events. 

3  This  biography  is  elaborated  from  a  sketch,  written  for  W.  D.  Lewis's 
Great  American  Lawyers  and  appearing  in  Vol.  IV  of  that  work  at  page  409. 


2  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Reverdy  Johnson  was  the  son  of  John  Johnson  and 
of  Deborah,  the  daughter  of  Reverdy  Ghieselen.  The 
maternal  grandfather  was  of  Huguenot  ancestry,  had 
been  commissioner  of  the  Land  Office  of  Maryland  and 
was  associated  with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bacon  in  the  prep 
aration  of  that  remarkable  compilation  of  the  laws  of 
Maryland,  which  was  the  finest  production  of  the  press 
of  the  English  colonies  in  America.  John  Johnson  was 
a  lawyer,4  who  served  the  State  as  member  of  both 
houses  of  the  legislature,  as  attorney  general,  as  judge 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  as  chancellor.  In  this 
last  office,  he  was  followed  by  an  older  son,  John  John 
son,  Jr.  With  such  relatives,  Reverdy  Johnson  natu 
rally  thought  of  law  as  his  life  work. 

He  was  born  at  Annapolis5  on  May  21,  1796,  and  grew 
up  at  the  Capital  of  Maryland,  being  educated  at  St. 
John's  College  there,  until  he  was  sixteen.  He  then 
began  reading  law  with  his  father  and,  completing  his 
studies  in  the  office  of  Judge  -  -  Stephen,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1816,  at  the  age  of  twenty.  While  a  stu 
dent,  during  the  British  alarms  of  1814,  he  served  for 
a  time  as  a  private  in  the  22nd  regiment  of  Maryland 
militia.6 

After  being  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law,  Johnson 

4  See  the  Bowies  and  their  Kin,  p.  162. 

5  Other  accounts  of  his  life  are  found  in  Richardson  and  Bennett's  Baltimore, 
86  Eclectic  Magazine  502  (with  steel  engraving)  by  W.  H.  Bidwell,  3  Green  Bag 
317  (with  portrait)  by  E.  L.  Didier,  and  20  Harper's  Weekly  165  (with  picture) 
i  Forum  (Bench  and  Bar  Review),  367  (1874)  with  engraving,  10  Cent.  L.  J. 
1 06  (1876).     An  engraving  of  his  portrait,  at  the  time  he  was  attorney-gen 
eral,  is  found  in  5  Am.  Rev.  549,  (June  1849).     Alexander  Randall,  Esq.,  in 
the  remarks  he  made  at  the  memorial  meeting  of  the  Md.  Court  of  Appeals 
on  February  n,  1876,  said  of  Johnson:  "He  was  the  friend  of  my  childhood 
and  lived  under  my  father's  roof."  43  Md.  Repts. 

6  A  pay  warrant  is  extant  dated  August  13,  1814,  signed  by  Nicholas  Brewer, 
to  pay  Johnson  for  his  services  $2.78,  at  the  rate  of  $0.26  a  day. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  3 

settled  at  Upper  Marlborough,  the  county  seat  of  Prince 
George's  County,  where  the  little  brick  building,  in 
which  was  his  office,  is  still  standing.  It  is  said  that 
he  was  so  discouraged  by  his  first  speech  in  the  court 
there  that  he  would  have  abandoned  the  law,  but  for 
the  encouragement  of  Judge  Edmund  Key  of  the  Prince 
George's  Court.7  Persevering  in  the  profession,  he  soon 
displayed  such  ability  that  he  was  appointed  by  the 
Attorney-General  of  Maryland  his  deputy  for  the  judicial 
district.  In  a  little  more  than  a  year  from  beginning 
practice,  Johnson  removed  to  Baltimore,  so  as  to  have 
a  wider  field,8  and  continued  in  active  practice  at  the 
bar  of  that  city  until  his  death,  nearly  sixty  years  later. 
Two  years  after  removing  to  Baltimore,  on  November 
1 6,  1819,  he  married  Mary  Mackall  Bowie,  who  bore 
him  fifteen  children  and  with  whom  he  lived  happily 
for  over  forty  years,  until  her  death.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  Contee  and  Mary  Mackall  Bowie 
and  the  grand-daughter  of  Governor  Robert  Bowie. 

Johnson's  legal  career  soon  proved  one  of  great  bril 
liancy  and  success,  because  of  the  vigor  of  his  intellect 

7  Bowies  and  their  Kin. 

8  He  told  Mr.  Edward  Higgins  that,  when  he  established  himself  in  Balti 
more,  he  had  not  the  means  to  furnish  his  residence  in  the  manner  he  wished 
and  arranged  with  the  leading  cabinet  maker  in  the  City  to  furnish  it  and 
receive  payment  from  time  to  time,  as  would  be  convenient  for  Johnson,  who 
would  pay  interest  on  the  indebtedness  in  the  meantime.     From  Mr.  Higgins 
also  comes  the  following  anecdote:  When  a  young  man  he  was  engaged  in  the 
trial  of  a  case  in  nisi  prius  and  was  associated  with  Luther  Martin.    On  the 
other  side  in  the  array  of  counsel  appeared  a  man  of  unusual  force  in  the  trial 
of  a  cause,  Walter  Dorsey.     The  case  consumed  a  number  of  days,  during  which 
there  were  a  number  of  "animated"  tilts  between  counsel.     Mr.  Martin  brought 
into  court  every  morning  and  carried  away  in  the  afternoon,  a  quire  or  more 
of  cap  paper.   So  far  as  Mr.  Johnson  observed,  Mr.  Martin  made  but  one  entry 
on  the  paper  and  it  seemed  to  be  very  brief,  and  he  had  the  curiosity  to  see 
what  it  was.     A  little  while  before  Mr.  Martin  addressed  the  jury  the  oppor 
tunity  came,  and  he  read  as  folio  ws :  "Scold  Wat  Dorsey." 


4  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

and  the  determination  of  his  character.  His  quickness 
of  mind,  his  remarkable  memory,  his  unbroken  cheer 
fulness,  his  power  of  repartee,  his  uniform  courtesy  and 
urbanity,  his  cogent  and  resistless  arguments,  his  deep 
and  impressive  voice,9  his  tact  and  skill  in  the  manage 
ment  of  causes,  his  lucidly  and  logically  arranged  dis 
course,  delivered  to  court  or  jury;  all  these  united  to 
make  him  a  powerful  advocate  and  give  him  a  great 
reputation  as  a  nisi  prius  lawyer.  His  skill  in  the  cross 
examination  of  witnesses  was  so  great  that  "his  con 
temporaries  agreed  that,  in  this  line,  he  stood  abso 
lutely  without  an  equal."  With  such  mental  equipment, 
Johnson  soon  made  his  way  among  the  able  men  at  the 
Baltimore  bar  and  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  then  one 
of  its  leaders,  is  reported  to  have  said:  "There  is  that 
young  man,  Reverdy  Johnson,  sir,  he  is  very  clever.  He 
may  lead  them  all  yet."  He  was  soon  appointed  chief 
commissioner  of  insolvent  debtors  and  his  experience  in 
this  post  proved  valuable  to  him  in  later  years,  when 
he  had  a  part  in  the  framing  of  the  national  bankruptcy 
law.  Edwin  Higgins,  Esq.,  of  the  Baltimore  Bar,  who 
was  associated  with  Johnson  during  the  later  years  of 
his  life,  furnished  some  interesting  memoranda  concern 
ing  him  as  a  lawyer: 

Mr.  Johnson  while  nearly  an  octogenarian,  retained  to  the 
last  his  remarkable  vigor  of  intellect.  His  power  of  analysis 
and  his  reasoning  faculties,  supported  by  robustness  of  expres 
sion,  commanded  attention  and  carried  conviction 

If  I  were  asked  to  name  the  foundation  of  his  fame  as  the 
Nestor  of  the  American  Bar,  I  would  declare  it  to  be  his  untir 
ing,  persistent  preparation  for  the  trial  of  causes  committed 
to  his  professional  care. 

9  When  he  twitted  Henry  Winter  Davis  for  taking  notes,  Davis  retorted 
"Yes,  Mr.  Johnson,  but  you  will  please  remember  that  unlike  the  lion  in  the 
play,  I  have  something  more  to  do  than  to  roar." 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  5 

Over  and  over  again,  he  required  me  to  read  the  authorities, 
while  he  would  bid  me,  from  time  to  time,  to  pause,  listen  to 
his  running  criticism  of  assent  or  dissent.  He  studied  the  case 
in  hand  thoroughly  and  when  the  contest  came  he  was  pre 
pared He  was  fair  to  the  witness  who  he 

believed  was  truthful — but  unrelenting  in  the  interest  of  his 
client,  in  the  cross  examination  of  one,  who  he  thought  had 
not  told  the  whole  truth,  and  arraigned  the  latter  by  a  sifting 
analysis  of  his  testimony  before  the  jury. 

Mr.  Johnson's  favorite  position  in  addressing  a  jury  was 
immediately  in  front;  often  with  the  left  hand  in  his  trousers' 
pocket.  When  he  became  aroused  in  argument  he  would  with 
draw  it  and  then,  uplifting  his  right  arm,  would  use  it  vigorously 
with  partially  open  hand  to  emphasize  his  argument.  I  always 
felt  when  he  had  argued  his  case,  not  that  he  had  exhausted 
his  resources,  but  had  taken  a  few  dippersful  from  an  inex 
haustible  well.  No  young  man,  if  he  was  attentive  in  the  con 
sultation,  could  be  associated  with  Mr.  Johnson,  in  the  prep 
aration  of  a  cause  for  trial  without  becoming  ready  for  it. 
I  recall  a  mass  meeting  of  the  Bar  held  in  the  old 
Superior  Court  Room  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  some 
reforms,  over  which  meeting  Mr.  Johnson  presided.  After 
several  addresses,  Mr.  Johnson  called  Mr.  John  H.  B.  Latrobe 
to  the  chair,  came  down  to  the  trial  table  and  made  one  of  the 
most  pleasing  and  profitable  discourses  it  has  been  my  good 
fortune  to  hear.  It  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  the  study  of  the  principles  of  law.  He  knew  that  the  suc 
cess  in  trying  of  a  cause  depends  upon  the  mastering  of  the 
principles;  and  the  application  of  them  in  the  practice  of  the 
profession  is  essential  in  the  making  of  a  great  lawyer.  Mr. 
Johnson  said:  "You  may  ask  me  who  was  the  greatest  lawyer 
with  whom  I  have  been  brought  in  contact,  I  answer,  William 
Pinkney,  by  all  odds.  It  is  true  he  had  but  few  cases  every 
year,  but  they  were  cases.  He  made  himself  master  of  them 
in  every  possible  way." 

In  the  trial  of  a  case  in  which  I  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Johnson,  the  counsel  for  the  opposite  side,  had,  as  Mr.  Johnson 


6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

believed,  stepped  aside  from  the  discussion  of  the  evidence 
to  arraign  his  client,  and  incidentally,  to  reflect,  as  it  were, 
upon  Mr.  Johnson.  When  his  turn  came,  Mr.  Johnson  said: 
"  Sometimes  when  a  lawyer  has  a  poor  case  he  resorts  to 
traducing  the  witnesses  on  the  opposite  side  and  if  he  has  a 
very  bad  case  he  will  go  further,  he  will  blackguard  his  brother 
on  the  other  side." 

Mr.  Johnson  was  retained  by  the  B.  &  O.  R.  R.  Co.  in  a  very 
important  matter  with  the  understanding  that,  if  suit  was 
brought,  he  should  receive  $5,000  for  services.  Instead  of  one, 
two  suits  were  brought.  Mr.  Johnson  appeared  in  both  for 
the  company  and  was  successful  in  each.  Mr.  Johnson  claimed 
$5000  in  each  case,  the  Company  refused  to  pay  the  $10,000 
and  Mr.  Johnson  brought  suit;  the  case  was  removed  to  Ellicott 
City.  Mr.  S.  Teackle  Wallis  appeared  for  Mr.  Johnson.  At 
the  trial,  after  Mr.  Wallis  had  made  a  masterly  argument 
before  the  jury,  and  counsel  for  the  Company  was  addressing 
it,  it  dawned  upon  Mr.  Wallis  that  it  would  be  the  courteous 
thing  to  ask  Mr.  Johnson,  if  he  would  not  prefer  to  make  the 
closing  argument  himself.  It  so  happened,  that  just  about 
this  time  something  was  said  by  the  counsel  for  the  Railroad 
to  stir  the  old  warrior's  blood  and  he  replied  with  some  anima 
tion— "By  the  by,  Teackle,  I  believe  I  will."  He  did  not  spare 
the  other  side  and  the  jury  gave  him  a  verdict  for  the  full 
amount  of  claim. 

Great  lawyers  are  proverbially  poor  penmen.  Mr.  Johnson 
was  not  an  exception  to  the  rule.  Mr.  Johnson  was  asked  for 
an  opinion  in  writing,  relative  to  the  title  of  a  parcel  of  land 
which  a  land  improvement  association  wished  to  buy.  He 
gave  it  in  his  own  hand-writing,  covering  several  pages  of 
letter  paper,  advising  the  corporation  not  to  accept  the  title  — 
and  at  the  same  time  sent  a  bill  for  $500.  The  committee  in 
charge  of  the  matter  were  unable  to  read  the  opinion  and  also 
thought  the  fee  was  too  much,  and  appointed  one  of  their 
number  to  go  up  to  see  Mr.  Johnson  and  get  him  to  read  the 
opinion  and  also  to  ask  him  to  make  a  deduction  in  his  bill. 
The  gentleman  returned  and  reported  that  he  had  to  explain 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  7 

the  case  to  Mr.  Johnson  again  when  the  latter  readily  deci 
phered  the  hieroglyphics — and  declined  to  reduce  his  fee,  say 
ing  that  it  was  not  too  much,  that  he  had  just  charged  the 
Union  Bank  a  fee  of  $3,000  for  an  opinion  which  had  not  re 
quired  much  more  of  his  time.  My  informant  added  the  $500 
paid  for  the  opinion  turned  out  an  excellent  investment,  for  the 
corporation  followed  it,  and  the  sequel  showed  it  was  saved 
from  very  much  trouble  and  loss. 

Judge  J.  Upshur  Dennis,  of  Baltimore,  considered  that 
Johnson's  strength  was  as  a  "nisi  prius"  lawyer  and  that 
he  was  best  suited  for  the  work  of  the  trial  table.10 

It  was  a  treat  to  see  him  fence  with  a  bright  but  hostile 
witness — how  he  would  joke  with  him  and  provoke  repartee, 
out  of  which  Mr.  Johnson  was  pretty  sure  to  get  something 
on  his  own  side  of  the  case  before  he  got  through,  either  from 
the  witness  himself,  or  by  his  own  replies  intended  for  the 
jury;  for  of  the  jury  he  never  lost  sight,  from  the  time  the  case 
was  called,  until  the  verdict  was  announced.  No  answer  of 
the  witness,  no  matter  how  unexpected,  ever  seemed  to  dis 
concert  him ;  he  acted  as  if  it  was  the  very  thing  he  was  look 
ing  for  and  would  make  some  suggestion  or  give  some  inter 
pretation,  which  would  make  it  seem  that  the  answer  was  really 
in  his  favor. 

Judge  Dennis  also  spoke  of 

his  imposing  appearance,  his  manners  and  a  certain  original 
way  of  saying  and  doing  things,  which  from  others  would  have 
fallen  flat,  but  from  him  always  counted.  He  spoke  slowly, 
in  a  full  strong  voice,  deliberately,  and  even  at  the  climax  of 
his  argument,  was  seldom  ever  loud,  or  at  all  passionate — only 
more  grave  and  dignified  and  with  more  pronounced  emphasis. 
He  was  the  very  embodiment  of  good  nature,  as  I  knew  him 

10  These  extracts  are  taken  from  a  paper  read  by  Judge  Dennis  before  the 
Maryland  State  Bar  Association  in  1905  and  published  in  the  Association's 
Proceedings  for  that  year. 


8  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

at  the  trial  table  and  elsewhere — full  of  humor,  full  of  fun,  even 
jocose  when  the  occasion  permitted.  While  he  was  not  witty 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  yet  he  was  fond  of  repartee 
and  seldom  came  off  second  best.  The  sharp  shafts  of  his 
opponent's  wit  or  sarcasm  evoked  his  laughter  and  apparent 
enjoyment  of  the  thrust,  even  at  his  own  expense,  as  heartily 
as  that  of  any  of  the  audience,  while  he  was  sure  to  come 
back  with  some  blunt,  broadly  humorous  retort  that  rarely 
failed  to  turn  the  laugh  upon  his  adversary.11 

Johnson  entered  the  field  of  politics,  when  he  accepted 
an  election  to  the  membership  of  the  Senate  of  Mary 
land  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  General  John  Strieker's 
declining  an  election.  The  Senate  was  then  composed 

11  Hon.  Charles  E.  Phelps  in  1906  gave  me  the  following  interesting  anecdote 
of  Johnson:  "Many  years  ago,  I  happened  to  be  present  in  the  Court  Room 
during  the  trial  of  an  important  will  case,  in  which  Mr.  Johnson  was  the  lead 
ing  counsel  on  one  side  and  Mr.  Wm.  Norris  on  the  other.  The  contest  had 
been  in  progress  many  days  and  some  friction  had  developed.  On  this  occa 
sion,  Mr.  Norris  took  the  floor,  immediately  after  the  noon  recess,  and  deemed 
it  his  duty,  solemnly,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Court  to  what  he  complained  of 
as  irregular  conduct  (I  am  not  quite  sure  he  did  not  use  the  word  unprofes 
sional)  of  his  learned  brother,  in  approaching  familiarly  gentlemen  of  the  jury 
during  recess  and  cultivating  them  individually.  I  was  one  of  those  who,  hav 
ing  seen  this  going  on,  from  day  to  day,  felt  that  the  protest  of  Mr.  Norris  was 
called  for  and  that  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Johnson  was  a  very  bad  example  to 
the  younger  members  of  the  profession." 

"At  this  distance  of  time,  some  half  century,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  repro 
duce  the  few  but  telling  words  of  Mr.  Johnson's  triumphant  reply,  sarcastic, 
withering  in  fact,  but  perfectly  good-humored.  He  expressed  innocent  sur 
prise,  he  was  not  indignant  but  hurt,  that  the  zeal  of  advocacy  could  go  so  far 
as  to  impute  unworthy  motives  to  the  open  conduct  of  a  professional  brother, 
who  might  ask  a  personal  friend  on  the  jury  as  to  the  health  of  his  sick  wife, 
or  even  go  so  far  as  to  borrow  his  newspaper,  or  who  should  have  so  poor  an 
opinion  of  the  integrity  of  those  high-toned  gentlemen  who  composed  this 
jury,  as  to  imagine,  for  a  moment,  that  any  one  of  them  was  capable  of  being 
corrupted  by  these  commonplace,  ordinary  courtesies  of  civilized  life." 

"It  was  Mr.  Johnson's  easy  and  assured  manner,  even  more  than  his  matter 
that  closed  the  incident,  and  left  him  master  of  the  situation.  I  do  not  remem- 
be:  what  notice,  if  any,  was  taken  of  it  by  the  Court,  but  my  recollection  is 
that,  after  that  episode,  Mr.  Johnson  was  rather  less  communicative  with 
jurors." 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  9 

of  fifteen  members,  who  were  chosen  for  a  term  of  five 
years  by  an  electoral  college  elected  by  the  voters  of 
the  State.  Vacancies  occurring  in  the  Senate  were  filled 
for  the  remainder  of  the  term  by  the  vote  of  the  remain 
ing  members.  The  Republican  party,  with  which  John 
son  was  affiliated  in  his  early  life,  had  secured  a  majority 
in  the  electoral  college  of  1821  and  had  elected  a  Senate 
entirely  composed  of  the  members  of  that  party.  He 
served  throughout  the  term,  from  his  election  on  Decem 
ber  10,  1821,  and  was  reflected  in  1826,  but  resigned  on 
March  8,  1828,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  his  professional 
engagements. 

His  desire  to  improve  the  administration  of  the  law 
led  him  to  introduce  and,  unsuccessfully,  to  urge  the  pas 
sage  of  a  bill  to  enable  parties  to  a  law  suit  to  testify 
therein  and  he  aided  in  the  accomplishment  of  certain 
measures  of  internal  improvement,  delaying  his  resig 
nation,  in  order  to  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of  several 
such  measures.  The  vacancy  caused  by  his  resignation 
was  filled  on  January  2,  1829. 

His  complaisance  is  shown  in  two  letters,  both  signed 
by  Isaac  McKim  and  Johnson  and  dated  February  13, 
1822,  recommending  to  the  Governor's  attention  two  dif 
ferent  men,  who  were  candidates  for  appointment  as 
attorney  general  of  Maryland.12  It  should  be  stated, 
however,  that  one  man  is  recommended  for  appoint 
ment,  and  testimony  is  given  merely  to  the  legal  abilities 
of  the  other. 

Through  his  advocacy  of  a  broad  construction  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Whig 
party  at  its  organization,  but  he  remained  out  of  politi 
cal  life  for  seventeen  years  from  the  time  of  his  resig 
nation  of  his  position  in  the  State  Senate. 

*  Md.  Hist.  Mag.,  vol.  6,  p.  42. 


IO  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

In  1821,  he  became  associated  with  Thomas  Harris, 
Clerk  of  the  Maryland  Court  of  Appeals,  in  the  com 
pilation  of  a  series  of  reports  of  the  cases  decided  in  that 
Court,  which  series  is  known,  from  the  names  of  the  com 
pilers,  as  Harris  and  Johnson's  reports.  Seven  volumes 
were  issued,  the  last  one  appearing  in  1827,  and  they 
covered  the  Court's  decisions  for  the  years  from  1800 
to  1826. 

During  the  early  years  of  Johnson's  practice,  he  grew 
to  know  with  some  intimacy  and  greatly  to  admire 
Roger  B.  Taney,  then  practicing  law  in  Frederick.  They 
met  in  1815,  when  Johnson  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  the  Court  of  Appeals  and,  in  the  years  before  Taney 
entered  Jackson's  Cabinet,  they  often  conversed  about 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  on  which  occasions  Taney 
assured  Johnson  that  if  he  were  in  the  Cabinet,  he 
should  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  remove  the  public  money 
from  the  bank.  After  Taney 's  death,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Bar  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  on  Decem 
ber  6,  1864,  Johnson  gave  this  Chief  Justice  this  praise: 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  his  confidence  and  friend 
ship,  almost  from  the  first,  and  greatly  did  I  profit  by  it.  Often 
his  associate,  and  often  his  opponent,  I  had  constant  oppor 
tunities  of  judging  of  his  legal  learning,  of  his  ability  in  its  use, 
and  the  fair  and  elevated  ground  upon  which  he  ever  acted. 
In  neither  relation  is  it  possible  to  exaggerate  his  excellence. 

At  this  period,  Johnson's  practice  was  growing  rap 
idly.13  In  1827,  he  pleaded  his  first  case  in  the  United 

13  On  August  i,  1868,  on  the  eve  of  departing  for  England,  Johnson  wrote 
Rev.  Thomas  McCormick,  thanking  him  for  an  engraving  of  Luther  Martin 
and  stating:  "It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  him  personally  and  to  have 
argued  several  cases  with  him,  and  to  have  had  in  him  a  constant  and  valued 
friend."  Johnson's  opinion  of  the  elder  lawyer,  expressed  in  this  letter,  is 
worthy  of  being  remembered:  "Whether  Mr.  Martin's  character  be  estimated 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  II 

States  Supreme  Court,  the  important  one  of  Brown  v. 
Maryland14  in  which  he  was  one  of  the  lawyers  for  the 
State,  and  in  which  the  important  doctrines  of  the  "orig 
inal  package"  and  the  "police  power"  first  appeared. 
About  the  same  time,  he  became  one  of  the  first  counsel 
for  the  newly  chartered  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
of  which  corporation  he  was  one  of  the  legal  advisers 
for  nearly  half  a  century.15  His  success  was  so  great 
that,  in  1831,  fifteen  years  after  he  had  been  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  when  he  was  thirty-five  years  of  age, 
he  had  an  income  of  nearly  $11,000  and,  for  each  of 
several  years  thereafter,  he  received  about  the  same 
amount.  He  had  friendly  relations  with  such  other  law 
yers  as  J.  V.  L.  McMahon,  the  historian  and  author  of 
the  charter  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 

Among  his  associates  was  Evan  Poultney,  who  was 
prominent  in  local  financial  circles,  and  who  induced 
him,  in  September,  1831,  to  become  a  director  of  the 
Bank  of  Maryland,  of  which  Poultney  was  president,      Ji 
Later,  Johnson  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  an  insur- 

by  his  steady  patriotism  during  the  Revolution,  or  by  his  services  in  the  Coun 
cils  of  the  State,  or  in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  or  as  a 
lawyer,  it  stands  as  high  as  that  of  any  man  who  lived  during  the  same  period." 

14  Taney  was  with  him.  Wm.  Meredith  and  Wirt  were  the  opposing  attor 
neys.  12  Wheaton  419.  His  first  case  in  the  Maryland  Court  of  Appeals  was 
Biays  v.  Marine  Bank  4  Harris  &  Johnson  338. 

16  Among  the  papers  showing  Johnson's  usefulness  to  the  railroad  is  his 
opinion  on  the  dividend,  sent  from  Washington  on  January  23,  1847,  to  Louis 
McLane,  the  President,  which  opinion  was  printed  on  March  6,  as  Document 

5  of  the  Maryland  House  of  Delegates  at  the  December  Session  of  1846.     John 
son  approved  the  conduct  of  the  railroad,  in  using  the  net  earnings  for  im 
provements  and  giving  bonds  and  one  per  cent  in  cash  to  holders  of  fifty  shares 
and  upwards  of  stock,  but  cash  alone  to  those  holding  less  than  fifty  shares. 
He  was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  road  in  the  early  great  case  of  Chesapeake 

6  Ohio  Canal  v.  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  reported  in  4  Gill  v.  Johnson. 
Daniel  Webster  was  with  him  and  A.  C.  Magruder  and  Walter  Jones  opposed 
them. 


12  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

ance  company,  in  which  the  same  persons  were  inter- 
g  ested  as  in  the  bank.  Engrossed  in  legal  affairs,  Johnson 
paid  little  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  bank  and  can 
not  be  acquitted  of  the  charge  of  serving  as  a  dummy 
director.  In  1834,  tne  bank  failed  and  its  funds  were 
shown  to  have  been  used  for  speculative  purposes.  Three 
trustees  were  appointed,  and  McMahon  and  Johnson 
were  named  as  their  counsel.  The  trustees  fell  out,  two 
of  them  disagreeing  with  the  third.  Ugly  charges  of 
fraud  were  made  on  both  sides,  and  a  war  of  pamphlets 
followed  between  the  former  president  of  the  bank  and 
the  majority  of  the  trustees.  Considerable  delay  oc 
curred,  and  a  great  deal  of  litigation  hindered  the  depos 
itors  from  receiving  any  part  of  their  claims.  A  suit 
brought  by  the  bank's  trustees  against  a  person  asso 
ciated  with  the  former  president  was  removed  from 
Baltimore  to  Bel  Air  and  tried  there  in  May  and  June, 
1835.  An  array  of  able  counsel  was  engaged  on  either 
side  and  considerable  latitude  was  allowed  in  the  recep 
tion  of  evidence,  with  the  result  that  Johnson  was  con 
clusively  cleared  from  any  wrong-doing  in  connection 
with  the  bank.  Johnson's  own  argument  in  summing 
up  was  said  by  a  fellow  attorney  to  have  scourged  the 
defendant  ''naked,  for  three  days,  until  even  his  adver 
saries  were  moved  to  compassionate  him." 

In  Baltimore,  however,  many  were  led  to  believe  that 
Johnson  and  the  trustees  were  responsible  for  the  failure 
to  settle  the  bank's  affairs  promptly  and,  on  the  evening 
of  August  7,  while  Johnson  was  with  his  family  at 
Annapolis,  whither  he  had  gone  on  professional  business, 
a  mob  gathered  and  broke  some  of  the  windows  of  his 
house.  The  mayor,  who  had  been  a  director  of  the 
broken  bank,  was  inefficient.  On  Friday,  the  8th,  more 
damage  was  done,  after  a  meeting  of  the  bank's  credi- 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  13 

tors  had  demanded  that  the  trustees  turn  over  the  insti 
tution's  books  to  them.  On  Saturday,  anonymous  in 
flammatory  placards  were  scattered  throughout  the  city 
and,  on  that  night,  a  number  of  the  citizens,  called 
together  by  the  mayor,  some  armed  with  round  sticks 
and  so  called  the  "  rolling  pin  guards"  and  others  with 
muskets,  met  the  mob,  but  the  weakness  of  the  city 
authorities  finally  left  the  lawless  elements  of  the  popu 
lation  in  control  of  the  situation  and  on  Saturday  night 
and  Sunday,  the  houses  of  Johnson  and  the  trustees 
were  plundered  and  destroyed  by  fire.  On  Monday, 
the  veteran,  General  Samuel  Smith,  was  induced  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  those  citizens  who  wished  order 
restored,  the  mayor  resigned,  and  the  mob  was  dis 
persed  without  calling  upon  Federal  troops.  Johnson 
went  from  Annapolis  to  Bel  Air,  whence  he  and  his  asso 
ciates  were  soon  invited  to  return  to  Baltimore  and  were 
promised  the  protection  of  the  First  Company  of  Inde 
pendent  Volunteers.  He  came  back,  rebuilt  his  house  on 
Monument  Square,  bought  William  Wirt's  law  library 
of  four  or  five  thousand  volumes  to  take  the  place  of 
the  one  he  had  lost,16  and,  on  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly,  was  allowed  in  1839,  nearly  $41,000  indem 
nity,  on  the  ground  that  this  loss  had  occurred  through 
failure  of  the  civil  authorities  to  protect  his  property. 
Just  after  the  riots  on  August  17  Johnson  wrote  from 
Baltimore  to  a  friend,  L.  P.  W.  Balch,  Esq.,  who  was 
then  practicing  law  in  Frederick  City,  in  reply  to  a 
note  of  sympathy17  and  said: 

In  the  midst  of  all  my  troubles,  tears  have  never  come  from 
me,  until  reading  your  most  kind  letter.     There  is  something 

16  Many  of  the  books  in  this  library  were  burned  in  the  Baltimore  fire  of  1904. 

17  Balch  endorsed  the  reply,  "Reverdy  Johnson's  letter  when  his  house  was 
im  ruins." 


14  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

so  touching  in  a  heartfelt  sympathy,  that  I  was  overwhelmed 
by  it.  What  I  have  lost  in  property  is  to  me,  comparatively, 
of  no  value.  I  would  at  any  moment  cheerfully  sacrifice  all 
to  stand  unimpeached  before  my  fellow  citizens,  and  I  must 
hope  that,  so  far,  I  do  retain,  with  a  large  portion  of  them,  my 
reputation  for  integrity  unimpaired.  I  am  entirely  unable  to 
say  how  deeply  sensible  I  feel  for  your  kindness.  My  heart 
is  too  full  to  suffer  me  to  describe  my  feelings.  Any  effort  to 
do  so  would  be  more  than  useless.  There  is  only  one  thing 
more  that  you  can  do  to  make  me,  if  possible,  still  more  warmly 
grateful  to  you  than  I  am  already.  My  professional  character 
is  better  known  to  my  brethren  than  to  any  other  class  of  the 
community.  And  an  expression  of  opinion  from  your  hand 
would  be  most  highly  gratifying  to  me. 

I  suggest  it  with  diffidence  and  feel  that  you  duly  appreciate 
my  motive.18 

In  answer  to  a  similar  letter,  McMahon  wrote  John 
son  that: 

I  have  always  found  you  a  man  in  whose  abilities  and  integrity 
I  could  repose  full  confidence;  that  I  have  never  had  occasion 
to  falter  in  that  admiration  of  your  talents  and  character  which 

18  This  letter  was  printed  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Balch  in  his  Balch  Genealogica  at 
p.  213.  As  Johnson  destroyed  his  papers,  according  to  the  recollections  o( 
his  son,  the  late  Reverdy  Johnson,  Jr.,  very  few  manuscripts  remain  which 
give  information  as  to  the  life  of  our  subject.  The  account  of  Johnson's  con 
nection  with  the  bank  and  the  riots  is  based  upon  the  study  of  the  following 
authorities:  3  Scharf,  History  of  Maryland,  176;  Scharf,  Baltimore  City  and 
County  778;  Scharf,  Chron.  of  Baltimore,  474;  The  Memorial  of  Reverdy  John 
son  of  the  City  of  Baltimore  to  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  with  appendix 
1840,  pp.  46;  Memorial  of  Reverdy  Johnson  praying  indemnity  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  his  property  in  the  City  of  Baltimore  by  a  mob  in  August,  1835,  to  the 
Legislature  of  Maryland,  Annapolis  1836,  pp.  18;  Evan  Poultney,  Brief  Expo 
sition  of  the  Matters  Relating  to  the  Bank  of  Maryland,  p.  86;  Poultney,  An 
Appeal  to  the  Creditors  of  the  Bank  of  Maryland  and  the  Public  Generally, 
1835;  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  by  John  B.  Morris,  1836,  pp. 
21 ;  Extracts  from  the  Correspondence  and  Minutes  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Bank 
of  Maryland  published  by  J.  B.  Morris  and  R.  W.  Gill,  two  of  the  Trustees, 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  15 

has  grown  up  from  a  long  and  intimate  acquaintance;  and  that, 
whatever  others  may  say,  I  claim,  what  I  hope  I  shall  long 
enjoy,  the  privilege  of  calling  you  my  friend. 

Johnson's  busy  professional  career  was  seriously  af 
fected  by  an  accident  which  occurred  in  i842.19  One 
of  his  friends  had  challenged  a  man,  who  had  struck  him, 
to  fight  a  duel,  and  the  challenger  had  come  to  Johnson's 
house  to  elude  the  officer  who  had  a  warrant  of  arrest 
against  him.  Whilst  his  friend  was  his  guest,  Johnson 
practiced  with  a  duelling  pistol.  A  bullet  from  the  pis 
tol  rebounded  from  a  hickory  sapling  at  which  he  aimed 
and  struck  his  left  eye,  so  injuring  it  that  he  lost  the 
sight  of  that  eye.  This  was  probably  the  cause  of  his 
later  portraits  being  always  in  profile.  In  the  course 
of  time,  the  other  eye  failed  through  sympathetic  action 
and  he  became  nearly  blind.  Judge  Dennis  says: 

"He  could  not  walk  the  streets,  or  even  a  room  with  furniture 
in  it,  without  the  guiding  assistance  of  some  one,  and  was  not 
able  to  recognize  features  at  all;"  but  he  "gained  a  remarkable 
skill  in  distinguishing  voices  and  delighted  to  show  friends  to 
the  last  that  he  could  find  on  the  shelves  of  his  library  any  book 

having  relation,  principally,  to  their  intercourse  with  Poultney,  Ellicott  &  Co. 
and  Evan  Poultney,  1835,  pp.  64;  Anonymous,  To  the  creditors  of  the  Bank 
of  Maryland,  pp.  7;  Anonymous,  Final  Reply  to  the  Libels  of  Evan  Poultney, 
late  President  of  the  Bank  of  Maryland  and  a  further  examination  of  the  Causes 
of  the  Failure  of  that  Institution,  1835,  pp.  146;  The  Report  and  Testimony 
taken  before  the  Joint  Committee  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Delegates  of 
Maryland  to  which  was  referred  the  Memorials  of  John  B.  Morris,  Reverdy 
Johnson  and  others,  praying  indemnity  for  losses  sustained  by  reason  of  the 
riots  in  Baltimore  in  the  month  of  August,  1835,  pp.  77;  Reply  to  a  Pamphlet, 
entitled  a  brief  exposition  of  matters  relating  to  the  Bank  of  Maryland,  pp. 
59;  State  of  Md.  v.  Bank  of  Md.  6  G.  &  J.  205;  Union  Bank  of  Tenn.  v.  Ellicott, 
6  G.  &  J.  364;  Campbell  v.  Poultney.  6  G.  &  J.  94;  Bank  of  Md.  v.  Ruff.  7  G. 
&  J.  448. 

19  2  N.  Sergeant's  Public  Men  and  Events.  In  1832,  Samuel  Houston  sent 
Johnson  with  a  challenge  to  Stansberry  on  account  of  language  used  by  the 
latter  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  16  S.  W.  Hist  Quar.  124. 


1 6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

he  wished,  from  the  lettering  on  the  back.  Great  as  was  his 
calamity,  he  was  undaunted  by  it,  had  the  newspapers  read 
to  him  for  important  events  and,  as  he  had  been  always  cour 
teous  to  others,  found  a  return  of  that  courtesy  in  the  eager 
ness  with  which  his  juniors  at  the  trial  table  gladly  found  his 
references  in  the  books.20 

His  blindness  was  the  less  of  a  misfortune  to  him,  in 
that  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  citing  many  authorities. 
Never  a  bookish  lawyer,  he  devoted  himself  chiefly  to 
evolving  rules  applicable  to  the  particular  case  from  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  law.  His  limitations  of 
sight  prevented  him  from  being  a  profound  student  of 
reports  of  textbooks  in  general,  but  he  knew  the  Feder 
alist,  and  the  Commentaries  of  Kent  and  Story  on  the 
Constitution,  as  well  as  the  reports  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  so  thoroughly  that  he  had  a  wonderful 
fluency  of  reference  to  them,  and  his  remembrance  of 
events  in  American  History  was  so  great  that  his  power 
as  a  constitutional  lawyer  was  scarcely  affected.  Judge 
Charles  E.  Phelps  tells  an  anecdote  showing  that  John 
son  could  even  jest  as  to  his  blindness: 

There  had  been  a  temperance  meeting  in  Baltimore  a  few 
evenings  before  Johnson  met  Judge  Hugh  Lennox  Bond,  and 
Judge  Bond,  referring  to  it,  remarked:  "Mr.  Johnson,  I  was 
very  glad  to  see  you  on  the  platform  at  our  temperance  meet 
ing  the  other  night." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Johnson,  "and  I  had  you  in  my  eye,  Judge." 

"Which  eye,  Mr.  Johnson?" 

"Why,  which  one  do  you  suppose?  The  only  one  that  can 
see." 

"He  was  a  thorough  master  of  the  underlying  prin 
ciples,"  says  Judge  Dennis,  "and  his  powerful  intellect 

20  Vide  Forney's  remarks  in  Proceedings  of  Bench  and  Bar  after  Johnson's 
death. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  17 

and  extraordinary  gift  of  common  sense  built  upon  these 
foundation  stones  a  structure  that  was  difficult  for  any 
attack  to  shatter."  For  example,  the  case  of  Bayne  v. 
the  National  Banks,  tried  in  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  in  Baltimore,  before  Chief  Justice  Chase  and 
District  Judge  Giles,  involved  a  very  large  amount  of 
money  and  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  national 
banking  law.21  Against  Johnson  was  Judge  B.enjamin 
R.  Curtis  of  Boston,  Johnson's  great  rival  at  the  bar, 
yet  in  the  speech  he  made  then,  which  still  seemed  to 
Judge  Dennis  many  years  afterwards,  "  the  greatest  law 
argument"  he  ever  heard,  he  referred  to  only  one  author 
ity,  "and  few  that  heard  him,  after  he  had  argued  out 
his  case  on  principle,  thought  that  he  needed  the  sup 
port  of  even  that  one  citation."  Not  only  did  he  cite 
very  few  authorities,  but  he  was  equally  sparing  of 
quotations  and  allusions  to  persons  and  events  in  history 
outside  of  the  national  history  of  the  United  States.  In 
all  his  speeches,  I  have  come  across  hardly  half  a  dozen 
quotations  and  these,  singularly  enough,  are  all  of  verses 
of  poetry  of  very  little  merit.  Unfriendly  critics  com 
mented  on  this  lack  of  display  of  literary  attainments 
and  said  they  would  not  go  to  court  to  hear  him  speak, 
as  they  "had  no  desire  to  hear  a  man  whose  vocabulary 
consisted  of  six  hundred  words;"  but  the  men,  who  went 
to  hear  him,  listened  to  a  forceful  and  well  chosen  vocab 
ulary,  powerfully  used  and  adequate  to  carry  conviction 
of  the  cause  argued.  He  had  a  little  trick  of  repeating 
a  noun  with  each  of  several  adjectives  by  which  he 
wished  to  modify  it  and  certain  words  of  Latin  origin 
were  favorites  with  him ;  as  for  example,  he  said  termina 
tion  instead  of  end.  But  there  were  few  mannerisms  in 
his  straightforward  and  direct  discourse. 

21  This  case  is  not  reported. 


1 8  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

He  never  bore  malice,  and  when  an  altercation  in 
the  Criminal  Court,  in  which  he  often  practiced,  led  in 
June,  1843,  to  a  challenge  to  a  duel  between  him  and 
George  R.  Richardson,  another  attorney,  a  prompt 
arrest  of  Johnson  by  warrant  and  a  day  or  two's  reflec 
tion  brought  him  to  shake  hands  with  his  antagonist  in 
open  court  and  to  a  complete  reconciliation  which  lasted 
until  death.22 

The  most  complete  description,  which  I  have  found 
of  Johnson's  personal  appearance  in  his  prime  is  given 
by  Judge  Dennis: 

He  was  of  medium  height,  round  bodied,  solidly,  almost 
sturdily,  built,  just  such  a  physical  mould  as  indicated  perfect 
health,  capacity  for  work  and  endurance,  without  the  risk  of 
a  breakdown,  of  all  the  toils  and  strains  of  the  most  active  life 
at  the  trial  table.  He  was  cursed  with  neither  nerves  nor 
liver,  but  was  the  robust  embodiment  of  mens  sana  in  corpore 
sano.  His  features  were  strong;  his  forehead  of  great  height, 
fulness,  and  breadth;  while  the  back  of  his  head  was  shaped 
like  a  barrel  and  seemed  to  bulge  out  all  around,  as  if  indi 
cating  holding  capacity.  But  the  dome  of  his  head  was  its 
most  striking  feature,  so  lofty,  so  symmetrically  rounded,  that 
it  seemed  to  tower  above  all  others,  as  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's 
minimizes  all  other  designs. 

Shortly  after  1840,  Johnson  visited  Europe  and  spent 
some  time  in  London,  during  which  he  attended  the 
House  of  Commons  for  a  week,  in  order  to  hear  the 
debates.23  He  served  as  a  delegate  to  the  national  Whig 
Convention  in  Baltimore  in  December,  1839  and,  at  a 
critical  moment,  read  a  letter  from  John  M.  Clayton 
of  Delaware,  declining  to  allow  his  name  to  be  used  as 
a  candidate  for  the  Vice- Presidency,  which  declination 

22  Scharf,  Baltimore  City  and  County,  713. 

23  Speech  in  Senate  of  March  4,  1847. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  19 

led  to  the  nomination  of  Tyler.24  After  Harrison's  inau 
guration,  on  March  21, 1841  he  wrote  to  Francis  Granger, 
the  Postmaster  General,  recommending  Richard  Swann, 
who  had  long  been  a  zealous  Whig,  for  the  postmaster- 
ship  of  Annapolis.25  Johnson  would  rather  keep  the  in 
cumbent  in  office,  but  knew  that  his  conduct  in  the 
presidential  campaign  brought  him  under  the  general 
rule  for  removals,  which  rule  is  right  in  general.  The 
Maryland  Senators  had  recommended  another  man,  but 
one  of  the  Senators  lived  on  the  Eastern  Shore  and  the 
other  on  the  lower  extremity  of  the  Western  Shore,  and 
neither  knew  anything  about  Annapolis,  where  two-thirds 
of  the  people  wished Swann's  appointment.  Johnson  him 
self  knew  the  people  of  that  city  well,  "being  one  of  them 
for  years  and  always  in  constant  association  with  them." 
In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1844,  he  took  an  active 
part,  serving  as  delegate  to  the  Whig  nominating  con 
vention  in  Baltimore,  and  presenting  the  report  of  the 
committee  on  the  platform.  He  also  addressed,  together 
with  Webster  and  other  leaders,  a  vast  concourse  at 
a  popular  ratification  meeting26  at  Canton,  in  the  suburbs 
of  Baltimore.27  A  few  months  thereafter,  the  Maryland 

24  Thurlow  Weed,  Autobiography,  Vol.  I,  p.  482,  and  Vol.  II,  p.  77. 

25  After  Tyler  became  President,  Johnson  wrote  J.  J.  Crittenden  on  August 
30,  1841  (i  Colemans  Crittenden  160)  that  Alexander  Hamilton  of  New  York, 
an  intimate  friend  of  Tyler,  had  visited  Baltimore  to  see  Judge  Upshur  and 
Mr.  Maher,  and  that  the  impression  was  that  Hamilton  had  been  sent  to  sound 
them  as  to  a  new  cabinet,  in  which  Maher  should  succeed  Crittenden.  If 
Johnson's  suspicion  be  correct,  he  cannot  speak  of  the  attempt,  "without 
using  terms  of  the  President  that  should  not  be  applied  to  him  except  in  the 
last  emergency." 

26  See  Granger  Papers  in  Library  of  Congress.      Scharf,  Chron.  of  Balto.,  511. 
An  interesting  letter  to  Van  Buren  written   September  29,   1840   is  printed 
in  the  Md.  Hist.  Mag.  for  September,  1914. 

27  Mr.  Higgins  relates  that  Johnson,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  having 
drawn  the  contrast  in  public  service  between  Clay  and  Polk,  exclaimed:  "My 
fellow  citizens,  who  is  James  K.  Polk?"     After  it  was  "definitedly  settled  that 
Mr.  Polk  was  elected  President,"  one  evening,  a  crowd  gathered  in  front  of 


20  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

legislature  elected  him  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
where  Hon.  James  Alfred  Pearce,  his  colleague  presented 
his  credentials  on  February  4,  and  where  he  was  sworn 
in  as  a  member  on  March  4,  i845.28 

Johnson's  residence  and  began  to  cry,  "My  fellow  citizens,  who  is  James  K. 
Polk?"  Finally,  Mr.  Johnson  appeared  on  his  portico,  with  hat  in  hand  and 
bowed  to  his  audience.  When  all  were  silent,  he  said:  "My  fellow  citizens, 
James  K.  Polk  is  the  President-elect  of  the  United  States.  Good  night."  He 
then  retired  and  the  assemblage  dispersed  in  good  humor. 

28  Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Louis  H.  Dielman,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Peabody  Institute,  we  are  able  to  quote  from  the  autobiography  of  John 
P.  Kennedy  (II,  127,  1845),  a  passage  which  throws  some  light  on  this  election: 

"Merrick's  term  of  service  in  the  Senate  being  limited  to  the  4th  of  March, 
1845,  it  became  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  last  winter  to  make  an  election 
of  his  successor.  The  most  active  candidate  for  this  appointment  was  Reverdy 
Johnson,  who  has  been  working  for  it  for  the  last  six  years.  He  and  his 
friends  have  been  personally  excessively  industrious  in  attempting  to  obtain 
it.  And  as  soon  as  the  Legislature  met  they  were  on  the  spot  using  all  the 
customary  means  to  promote  his  success.  His  extreme  unpopularity  in  the 
State  was  in  a  great  degree  counteracted  by  the  assiduity  of  those  who  took 
his  case  in  hand.  There  were  other  candidates  spoken  of — Cost  Johnson,  Wm. 
Price,  Genl.  Chapman  and  others — besides  myself. 

Holding  it  to  be  a  matter  which  deeply  concerns  my  own  character  and 
my  desire  to  preserve  the  utmost  personal  independence  as  well  as  self  respect, 
I  not  only  refused  to  take  any  steps  directly  in  my  own  behalf,  but  also  in 
directly  to  engage  the  services  of  friends.  I  was  content  that  the  question, 
so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  should  rest  upon  the  uninfluenced  suffrage  of  the 
Legislature.  Early  in  the  session  it  was  found  that  Reverdy  Johnson  had  not 
a  sufficient  force  to  secure  his  nomination  in  a  caucus.  By  management  there 
fore  a  caucus  was  postponed.  The  Whigs  had  a  large  majority  in  the  Legis 
lature,  and  continued  efforts  were  made  to  bring  a  sufficient  number  into  Mr. 
R.  J.'s  interest.  Cost  Johnson,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  told 
me  after  the  session  was  over,  that  finally  it  was  ascertained  that  Reverdy's 
party  had  grown  strong  enough  to  secure  the  nomination.  Before  this  was 
done  Cost  made  a  proposition  to  withdraw  his  name  and  recommended  that 
all  his  friends  should  unite  upon  me.  It  became  apparent  at  that  period  that 
I  would  have  got  the  nomination.  This  induced  a  concentrated  and  vigorous 
effort  against  me,  which  by  means  of  such  appliances  as  are  unhappily  too 
common  in  Legislative  bodies,  had  its  effect  to  secure  a  majority  of  two  in 
favour  of  R.  Johnson  in  the  caucus.  This  being  discovered  to  be  the  condi 
tion  of  things,  the  caucus  was  held  and  upon  the  first  ballot  Johnson  obtained 
38  votes, — 37  being  sufficient  for  the  vote.  If  the  nomination  had  not  sue- 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  21 

ceeded  on  this  first  ballot,  Cost  Johnson  tells  me  I  would  have  received  a 
large  majority  on  the  second.  Reverdy  Johnson  thus  obtained  the  nomina 
tion  and  was  elected.  He  is  a  man  of  talents,  a  very  earnest  Whig  and  will 
make  an  efficient  Senator — though  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  he  will  ever 
become  eminent  in  that  body.  He  is  a  pretty  good  lawyer,  with  some  very 
striking  defects  even  in  that  character;  but  he  is  very  far  from  being  a  good 
speaker,  or  an  effective  debater,  and  he  is  singularly  deficient  in  all  accom 
plishments  which  might  render  him  either  a  conspicuous  or  a  useful  statesman. 
What  redeems  him  however  from  many  deficiencies,  is  a  pleasant  and  attrac 
tive  good  fellowship,  which  I  think  will  make  him  popular  with  his  party  in 
the  Senate.  We  have  made  in  his  appointment  a  most  profitable  exchange 
from  Merrick." 


CHAPTER  II 
SENATOR,  ATTORNEY-GENERAL,  LAWYER  (1845-1860) 

Johnson  began  his  national  career,  when  he  was  nearly 
fifty  years  old  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Mexican 
War.  His  first  activity1  in  the  Senate  occurred  in  the 
session  which  began  in  December,  1845,  and  he  quickly 
showed  himself  the  peer  of  such  great  men  as  Clay  and 
Calhoun.  Johnson  resided  in  the  same  house  with  the 
latter  for  two  sessions,  and  receiving  much  of  Calhoun's 
confidence,  frequently  heard  him  in  private  argument, 
with  "wonderful  acuteness,"  defend  nullification  on  con 
st' tutional  grounds.  Johnson  never  told  him  that  he  did 
not  take  that  view,  "but  could  see  no  more  constitu 
tional  warrant"  for  nullification  than  for  secession,  which 
Calhoun  carefully  distinguished  and  which  he  "repudi 
ated,  as  wholly  indefensible  as  a  constitutional  remedy." 
Both  men  agreed  that  secession  could  be  placed  "on  no 
other  ground  than  that  of  revolution."2 

The  first  important  speech  made  by  Johnson  on  March 
n,  1846,  was  upon  the  Oregon  question.3  In  it,  his 
eloquence  and  sarcasm  were  directed  to  an  attack  upon 
the  administration.  He  defended  a  compromise  on  the 
line  of  49°,  moved  that  England  be  notified  of  an  abro- 

1  He  presented  petitions  on  December  29,  and  introduced,  on  the  3oth,  a 
resolution,  adopted  on  the  next  day,  asking  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs 
to  inquire  whether  for  purposes  of  defence  the  United  States  ought  not  to 
subscribe  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 

2  S.  S.  Cox,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation  101,  extract  from  letter 
of  Johnson  to  Edward  Everett,  June  24,  1861. 

3  He  had  spoken  on  preemption  of  public  lands  on  January  13,  and  on  a 
bill  giving  recompense  for  a  ship  confiscated  during  the  war  of  1812,  on  Feb 
ruary  4,  and  had  made  inquiry  as  to  the  policy  of  the  administration  in  refer 
ence  to  Oregon  on  February  26. 

22 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  23 

gation  of  the  previous  joint  occupation  of  the  Oregon 
country,  and  favored  peace,  as  the  Christian  attitude.4 
Two  months  later,  however,5  he  broke  from  his  party, 
declared  that  he  believed  that  a  state  of  war  existed 
between  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  and  that  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  had  been  invaded.  He 
would  have  voted  against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but 
did  not  think  that  his  country  was  the  aggressor  in  the 
war.  He  uttered  these  views,  not  only  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate,  but  also  in  a  public  meeting  in  Monument 
Square  in  Baltimore  on  May  23.°  He  showed  his  loose 
construction  views,  by  advocating  action  in  emergencies 
when  the  constitution  was  silent.7  In  the  latter  part 
of  June,  a  resolution,  introduced  by  Johnson,  passed  the 
Senate,  calling  on  the  Secretary  of  War  to  report  whether 
any  individual  had  been  authorized  to  raise  volunteers. 
President  Polk  sent  for  Johnson  and  had  a  frank  con 
ference  with  him  on  the  evening  of  July  6,  reading  him 
copies  of  the  papers  showing  the  plans  of  a  campaign 
into  California.  Polk  said  that  the  publication  of  these 
papers  "  would  probably  defeat  our  objects  and  be  most 
prejudicial  to  public  interest,"  as  exciting  the  "jealousy 
of  England  and  France."  Johnson  agreed  with  Polk 
as  to  this  and  said  he  "  regretted  that  he  had  not  known 
more  on  the  subject,  before  he  moved  the  resolution." 
He  further  advised  that  the  call  be  not  answered  and 
said  that,  "if  any  thing  was  said  about  it  in  the  Senate, 
he  would  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  he  had  seen  the 
papers  and  deemed  it  improper  that  the  call  should  be 

4  Vide  speech  also  of  April  16. 

5  On  May  5  and  May  12,  he  had  spoken  on  preemption  claims,  and  on  June 
29  he  spoke  in  opposition  to  selling  public  lands  at  too  low  a  price. 

8  Scharf,  Chron.  of  Baltimore  516. 

7  Vide  speech  of  June  5,  Webster  denied  the  right  to  take  such  action  as 
that  of  Gen.  Grimes,  whom  Johnson  defended  for  calling  for  troops  in  May. 


24  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

answered."8  Johnson  was  not  called  on  to  make  this 
statement,  however.  His  only  other  speech  on  the  Mexi 
can  question  at  that  session  was  one  of  some  length, 
delivered  on  August  5,  in  which  he  "ably  advocated" 
Ben  ton's  motion  on  an  indemnity.9 

During  July,  he  was  active  in  the  discussion  of  the 
tariff  bill.10  He  opposed  the  lowering  of  protective  du 
ties  and  on  the  i8th,  in  a  speech  of  three  hours  length, 
maintained  that  the  bill  would  not  bring  in  enough  rev 
enue.  He  denied  that  the  citizen  paid  the  tax,  pointed 
to  the  prosperity  which  had  followed  the  tariff  of  1842, 
and  maintained  that  Polk  had  carried  Pennsylvania 
through  a  promise  to  support  it.  If  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  has  no  power  to  lay  protective  duties,  the  States 
are  industrially  yet  colonies,  nor  had  there  been  a  pro 
test  against  the  rightfulness  of  such  duties  from  1789 
to  1822.  Johnson  served  on  the  Finance  Committee  and, 
both  in  the  committee  and  on  the  floor  of  the  house, 
protested  against  a  hasty  consideration  of  the  bill.11 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  on  January  7,  1847, 
he  advocated  successfully  the  printing  of  memorials  from 
Louisiana,  criticising  its  representatives  as  unfaithful 
to  the  State's  interests  because  of  their  votes  on  the 
tariff  bill.  On  March  4,  speaking  on  reporting  by  con- 

8  2  Folk's  Diary  13. 

9  The  speech  is  not  extant. 

10  The  only  other  subjects  on  which  he  spoke  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ses 
sion  were  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  which  he  advocated  on  July  16,  to  avoid 
transportation  of  specie,  the  purchase  of  the  toll  bridges  over  the  East  Branch 
of  the  Potomac  by  the  United  States,  which  he  successfully  advocated  on 
August  3,  and  the  act  disaffirming  the  laws  of  the  territories  of  Iowa  and 
Wisconsin  granting  banking  privileges,  which  act  he  opposed  in  an  elaborate 
argument  on  August  6. 

11  Vide  speech  of  July  6,  and  motion  of  July  28,  to  commit  the  bill  to  a 
select  committee  on  raw  materials,  on  which  motion  there  was  a  tie  vote,  where 
upon  the  vice  president  cast  a  negative  vote.     On  July  27,  Johnson  also  spoke 
on  frauds  on  the  revenue  of  the  United  States  in  the  tariff  bill. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  25 

tract,  he  contrasted  the  reports  of  the  debates  in  the 
Senate  with  those  in  the  House  of  Commons,  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  former.  He  opposed,  on  January 
19,  a  limitation  on  sale  or  devise  for  seven  years  of 
bounty  lands,  speaking  in  behalf  of  Maryland  soldiers 
who  might  not  wish  to  emigrate,  and  urging  that  it  was 
better  to  run  the  risk  that  speculators  should  secure  the 
land  than  that  it  should  be  eaten  up  by  several  years' 
taxes.  In  carrying  on  the  war,  he  urged  active  meas 
ures,  and,  on  January  22, 12  decried  the  use  of  militia, 
who  choose  their  own  officers,  as  the  "  least  efficient, 
the  most  dangerous  and  expensive  course,"  only  suit 
able  for  a  " sudden  crisis."  So  that  the  Mexicans,  who 
had  invaded  our  soil,  might  speedily  be  brought  to  terms, 
he  favored  large  increase  of  the  army,  and  the  levying 
of  additional  taxes  on  tea,  coffee,  etc.13  On  February 
6,  he  spoke  again  on  the  Mexican  stituation.  Polk 
asked  an  appropriation  of  two  million  dollars,  to  enable 
him  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  and  Cass,  as  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  recom 
mended  that  the  amount  be  increased  to  three  millions, 
and  proposed  a  preamble  to  the  measure  setting  forth 
the  character  of  the  war.  Johnson  felt  that  the  war 
was  just,  but  as  a  pacifier,  he  objected  to  a  statement,  to 
which  "many  high  minded  men  in  the  Senate"  could 
not  agree,  and  which  would  drive  these  "  brother  Sena 
tors"  to  vote  against  the  bill,  or  to  vote  that  a  war  was 
just,  which  they  believed  "illegally  brought"  on  the 
country.  He  also  felt  that,  as  the  reasons  for  going 
into  a  war  have  nothing  to  do  with  a  declaration  of 
peace,  Cass's  preamble  needlessly  increased  the  impedi- 

12  Johnson's  speeches  of  January  22,  sent  to  Annapolis,  and  February  9, 
were  revised  by  him  and  appear  in  the  appendix  to  the  Globe,  as  did  that  of 
July  19,  1846. 

ls  As  a  good  Whig,  he  wished  the  repeal  of  the  subtreasury  act. 


26  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

ments  to  peace,  by  insulting  the  public  opinion  of  Mexico, 
declaring  her  a  causeless  aggressor.  The  bill  also  showed 
the  "white  feather,"  by  proposing  to  buy  a  peace,  while 
"a  nation  engaged  in  a  war — just  or  unjust — is  in  a 
condition  in  which  every  consideration  demands  that 
it  should  be  brought  to  a  successful  and  honorable  ter 
mination."  He  was  emphatic  in  his  attack  on  the  ad 
ministration  for  inefficiency  in  its  military  policy  and 
for  its  permitting  Santa  Anna  to  return  to  Mexico,  as 
well  as  for  its  "project  of  terminating  the  war  by  dis 
membering  a  sister  republic,  which  plan  is  so  revolt 
ing  to  my  moral  sense,  to  all  my  notions  of  propriety, 
honor  and  justice,  that  I  would  see  my  arms  sink  palsied 
to  my  side  rather  than  to  agree  to  it."  The  president 
brought  on  the  war  and  if  he  refused  to  treat,  or  to 
conduct  the  war,  as  Congress  wished,  that  body  might 
give  an  opinion,  which,  if  Polk  rejects,  will  make  him 
"liable  to  impeachment."  The  Democrats  say  that  if 
the  war  goes  on  we  may  annex  all  Mexico  and  already 
it  is  proposed  to  acquire  a  territory  equal  to  the  original 
thirteen  states.  War  would  never  have  been  approved 
by  Congress  had  the  object  been  stated  "  to  get  territory, 
not  to  vindicate  the  natural  rights,  not  to  drive,  off 
supposed  or  alleged  invaders  of  our  soil,  not  to  protect 
our  sister  State  of  Texas,  ....  but  in  order 
to  pay  our  own  citizens  the  debts  due  them  by  Mexico, 
.  and  in  order  to  obtain  New  Mexico  and 
California."  His  astute  mind  foresaw  that  the  ques 
tions  likely  to  "arise  on  the  admission  of  any  new 
territory"  might  "cause  the  Union  to  totter  to  its  very 
foundations."  We  have  enough  land  and  the  South 
is  in  no  danger,  with  the  country's  existing  limits,  but 
the  "only  way  to  keep  back  the  northern  conscience  as 
to  slavery"  is  to  refuse  to  admit  new  territory.  Already 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  2J 

the  legislature  of  New  York  had  adopted  resolves  that 
the  North  West  Ordinance  as  to  slavery  should  be  ex 
tended  into  any  annexed  territory  and  an  Alabama  Sen 
ator  had  said  that  such  extension  was  in  "derogation 
of  the  United  States  Constitution"  and  "at  war  with 
the  rights  of  slave  States."  Johnson,  cheerfully, 
would  vote  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  but  would 
"blush  for  my  country,  if  she  persisted  in  exactions 
upon  a  feeble  and  impoverished  foe,  which  the  world 
would  justly  anathematize  as  rapine  and  plunder."  He 
felt  that  annexation  of  the  proposed  territory  would  be 
followed  by  "one  of  two  things:  civil  war  with  all  its 
inconceivable  horrors,  or  disruption  of  the  Union  and 
a  violated  Constitution."  The  strong  and  prescient 
words  of  this  speech  were  followed  by  another  address, 
delivered  on  March  i,  upon  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  against 
the  establishment  of  slavery  in  the  territory  proposed 
to  be  annexed.14  Johnson  opposed  the  measure  on  con 
stitutional  grounds,  since,  by  the  "Spirit  of  the  Con 
stitution,"  the  States  are  to  be  equal  in  all  respects, 
and,  consequently,  the  citizens  of  slave  States  should 
not  be  prohibited  by  Congress  from  settling  with  their 
slaves  in  acquired  territory.  If  slavery  could  be  pro 
hibited,  in  a  manner  binding  on  the  States  formed  from 
new  territory,  so  it  could  be  established  there  perma 
nently.  "I  can  vote  for  neither,"  said  Johnson,  for  he 
was  not  a  proslavery  man,  adding:  "I  believe  and  have 
ever  believed  since  I  was  capable  of  thought,  that 
slavery  is  a  great  affliction  to  any  country  where  it 
prevails  and,  so  believing,  I  can  never  vote  for  any 
measure  calculated  to  enlarge  its  area,  or  to  render  more 

14  In  April  1873,  Johnson,  whom  Henry  Wilson  describes  as  "an  eminent 
lawyer,  and  statesman  of  recognized  ability  and  large  experience,"  wrote  him 
that  he  would  have  voted  against  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  had  opportunity  been 
given.  "Rise  and  Fall  of  Slave  Power"  Vol.  II  p.  17.  Vol.  Ill  p.  440. 


28  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

permanent  its  duration.  In  some  latitudes  and  for 
some  agricultural  staples,  slave  labor  may  be,  for  the 
master,  the  most  valuable  species  of  labor,  though  this 
I  greatly  doubt.  In  others,  and  particularly  in  my  own 
State,  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  the  very  dearest  species 
of  labor  and,  in  all,  as  far  as  natural  wealth  and  power 
and  happiness  are  concerned,  I  am  persuaded,  it  admits 
of  no  comparison  with  the  labor  of  freemen  and  above 
all,  disguise  it  as  we  may,  if  the  laws  of  population  shall 
not  be  changed  by  Providence,  or  man's  nature  shall 
not  be  changed,  it  is  an  institution,  sooner  or  later, 
pregnant  with  fearful  peril."  So  believing,  he  had  early 
emancipated  the  slaves,  whom  he  had  inherited  from 
his  father,  and  did  not  agree  with  the  South  Carolinians 
in  claiming  that  there  was  a  "conservative  influence  of 
slavery  on  our  free  political  institutions."  Yet  he 
showed  the  nervous  sensitiveness  on  the  negro  question 
always  displayed  in  the  South,  attributed  much  of  the 
strength  of  the  proslavery  sentiment,  especially  in 
Maryland,  to  the  efforts  of  political  abolitionists  and 
insisted  that  the  North  must  leave  the  question  to  be 
settled  by  southern  men  exclusively. 

When  Congress  met  in  December,  1847,  Johnson's  posi 
tion  was  established  as  one  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  Senate.  In  his  first  speech  on  December  30,  he 
asked  for  the  number  of  those  who  died  of  disease  and 
who  were  killed  in  Mexico,  maintaining  that  the  great 
mortality  which  had  prevailed  was  due  to  the  lack  of 
the  same  degree  of  discipline  among  volunteers  as  among 
regular  troops  and,  therefore,  urging  that  the  regular 
army  be  increased,  rather  than  that  more  volunteers 
be  raised.  On  January  10,  1848,  he  began  an  important 
speech  on  the  ten  regiment  bill,  which  he  concluded  with 
an  eloquent  peroration  on  the  following  day.  Johnson 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  2Q 

had  come  into  the  Senate,  "differing  with  the  adminis 
tration  on  almost  every  subject  of  our  public  civil  policy" 
and  his  experience  in  that  body  had  "more  and  more 
strengthened  and  confirmed"  the  differences  between 
him  and  the  Democratic  party,  on  all  questions  but  the 
war.  "I  believe,"  he  said,  "they  misapprehend  the  true 
policy  of  the  country  and  fundamentally  err  upon  great 
and  vital  points  of  constitutional  power."  It  is  inter 
esting  to  observe  that  he  spoke  of  the  conditions  in  the 
civil  service  as  bad,  because  "bred  in  the  corruption  of 
the  motto  of  the  political  freebooter  that  the  spoils 
belong  to  the  victor."  He  discussed  the  Texan  question15 
from  1834  and  defended  our  claim  to  the  Rio  Grande 
as  a  boundary,  maintaining  that  the  war  was  just  and 
honorable  and  that  the  United  States  had  a  just  cause 
for  war.  They  were  right  in  striking  the  first  blow  in 
self-defense,  because  of  the  hostile  acts  of  Mexico  in 
mustering  an  army  and  marching  "with  the  avowed  pur 
pose  of  taking  forcible  possession"  of  the  disputed  terri 
tory.  After  a  vigorous  description  of  the  horrors  of  war 
and  our  wickedness  in  waging  war,  if  it  be  not  a  just 
one,  he  said  that,  though  the  nation  had  given  Polk 
all  the  power  he  wanted  and  there  have  been  great  vic 
tories,  yet  there  is  no  peace.  Deluded  with  the  idea 
"that  peace  was  to  be  obtained  without  the  effusion  of 
blood,"  Folk's  "ostentatious"  vigor  had  given  Taylor 
and  Scott  such  small  forces  that  they  could  not  properly 
follow  up  their  victories.16  War  should  be  carried  on 
in  the  heart  of  Mexico,  till  that  country  agreed  to  terms 
of  peace,  by  which  we  may  obtain  "vindication  of  our 

15  On  June  30,  he  said  we  should  adopt  a  treaty  instead  of  resolves  of  an 
nexation. 

16  The  administration  had  relied  too  much  on  volunteers,  forgetting  that 
"  the  expense  of  a  regular  force  is  much  less  and  their  efficiency  infinitely  greater, 
above  all  that  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  is  less." 


3O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

violated  honor  and  indemnity  for  our  heretofore  violated 
rights,"  but  not  a  dollar  should  be  spent  to  "annihilate 
the  nationally  of  Mexico,  or  forcibly  to  dismember 
her  territory."  He  proposed  confiscation  of  Mexican 
revenues  to  pay  the  United  States  army  and  advocated 
a  treaty,  placing  the  Rio  Grande  as  a  boundary.  "If 
there  be  any  national  crime  more  crying  and  enormous  in 
the  opinion  of  all  Christendom,"  said  Johnson,  "it  is 
the  forcible  dismemberment  of  the  territory  of  a  weaker 
nation."  Annexation  was  also  sure  to  lead  to  the  dis 
cussion  of  slavery,  a  "subject  which  no  Southern  man 
on  this  floor,  when  he  can  avoid  it,  desires  to  discuss." 
"The  Southern  States  owe  it  to  themselves,  one  and  all 
of  them,  to  stand  on  their  own  rights,  to  vindicate  their 
own  equality  and,  exclusively  at  their  own  time  and 
without  the  interference  of  others,  to  meddle  in  their  own 
way  with  this  peculiar  institution,"  interference  with 
which  may  lead  to  "deadly  conflict  or  amicable  sepa 
ration."17 

Although  he  attacked  the  administration,  he  opposed 
on  April  28  a  bill  appointing  a  board  to  investigate 
Californian  claims,  because  it  named  the  members  of  the 
board  and  did  not  leave  the  appointment  to  the  Presi 
dent.  Johnson  felt  no  alarm  from  the  "tendency  of  the 
times  to  curtail  the  legislative  and  enlarge  the  executive 
power."  Both  power  of  appointment  and  of  veto  must 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  President.  The  United 
States  could  not  have  existed  but  for  the  veto  power. 
"What  more  than  anything  else  prevents  the  successful 

17  On  May  8,  Johnson  spoke,  urging  delay  in  the  question  of  Yucatan  and 
on  June  30,  he  defended  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  men  who  had  contracted  with 
Texas  to  build  war  vessels.  The  United  States  were  bound  by  honor  and 
justice  to  pay  them.  On  July  7,  he  spoke  on  extra  allowance  to  paymasters 
and  on  the  claims  of  citizens,  many  of  whom  were  Marylanders,  against  Mexico. 
On  August  n,  he  spoke  on  Mexican  claims. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  31 

assaults  of  popular  passion  upon  the  guarantees  of  the 
constitution,  except  the  knowledge  that  there  exists  in 
the  government  one  man  who  can  stop  it  until  the  ques 
tion  is  submitted  to  the  sober  good  sense,  better  thought, 
and  matured  consideration  of  the  people?"  Yet  John 
son,  on  May  12,  bitterly  opposed  the  quasi-usurpation 
of  Tyler,  in  vetoing  the  bank  bill,  and  of  Polk,  who 
could  not  be  reflected,  in  vetoing  the  river  and  harbor 
bill  and  the  French  spoliation  bill.  Would  the  Demo 
cratic  senators,  to  whom  the  executive  lash  had  been 
applied,  have  selected  Polk  for  the  presidency  as  the 
convention,  that  "political  excrescence"  did?  Why  had 
not  he  sent  in  the  nominations  for  positions  in  the  army?18 
The  fact  that  Jackson  had  induced  the  Senate  to  ex 
punge  its  resolution  censuring  him  showed  the  "over 
shadowing  influence  and  power  of  a  President."19 

He  eulogized  Taney  for  his  diligence,  character,  and 
industry,  on  April  18,  when  urging  legislation  to  prevent 
delay  in  hearing  cases  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  The  judges  of  this  court  are  old  and  should 
be  so,  for  young  men  are  rash,  but  their  age  makes 
them  feebler.  He  praised  them  for  the  Herculean  labor 
they  perform  and  had  heard  them  praised  in  England. 
Johnson  opposed  the  election  of  Judges  by  the  people. 
It  was  a  "system  productive  of  nothing  but  unmixed 
mischief"  to  have  candidates  nominees  of  a  political 
convention.  Judges  will  then  strive  for  reelection,  while 
a  man  once  upon  the  bench  should  never  again  go  into 
politics.  In  this  speech,  Johnson  showed  his  love  for 
the  nation,  by  saying:  "Loss  of  freedom  is  alone  to  be 
compared  to  the  loss  of  the  Union,  nor,  indeed,  can 
freedom  be  lost,  if  the  Union  is  in  good  faith  preserved." 

18  Vide  speech  of  May  9. 

19  Vide  speech  of  May  10. 


32  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

The  bill  for  the  organization  of  the  territory  of  Oregon 
brought  Johnson  several  times  to  the  floor  of  the  Senate. 
On  June  23,  he  objected  to  the  prohibition  of  slavery 
therein,  whether  the  settlers  wish  it  or  not.  On  July 
10,  he  felt  the  overshadowing  importance  of  the  presi 
dential  election,20  and  regretted  that  the  slavery  ques 
tion  could  not  have  been  postponed.  Events  showed 
the  growth  of  moral  degeneracy  through  the  Southern 
section."  The  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  bungling 
of  the  Mexican  war  caused  "our  present  mournful  con 
dition,"  and,  although  he  hoped  that  good  sense  would 
avert  disaster,  he  felt  that  "the  array  of  State  against 
State  and  citizen  against  citizen  was  a  spectacle  which 
he  regarded  as  ominous  of  fatal  results  to  the  Union." 
"If  these  signs  continue  to  increase,  the  separation  of 
the  States  is  inevitable."  "When  the  day  shall  come, 
when  the  whole  northern  territory  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  admitted  as  States  and  be  represented"  in  the 
Senate,  Johnson  "was  aware  that  slavery  would  no 
longer  be  permitted  to  exist  in  the  South."  He  attacked 
Van  Buren  and  his  policy  of  slave  restriction  and  found 
in  the  Constitution  no  power  of  prohibiting  slavery  in 
the  territories.  He  wished,  from  his  heart,  "that  no 
African  had  ever  been  brought  to  this  country,  but  that 
our  land  was  exclusively  peopled  by  freemen."  Though 
"slavery  was  a  great  evil,"  it  was  a  "domestic  institu 
tion,  in  some  respects  mutually  advantageous"  both  to 
slave  and  to  master.  Maryland  had  found  that,  through 
the  instigation  of  Northern  men  evils  came  from  manu 
mitting  slaves  and  had  restricted  the  right  to  emanci 
pate.  Northern  men  had  also  supplied  the  South  with 

20  On  July  3,  speaking  on  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  he  attacked  the 
sketches  of  General  Cass  sent  out  by  the  Democrats,  one  for  the  north  and  the 
other  for  the  south. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  33 

slaves,  and  part  of  the  responsibility  for  the  evils  of 
slavery  rested  on  them.  Compromise  now  should  settle 
this  "agitating  question,  at  once  and  forever,"  or  it 
would  be  "settled  by  blood  or  separation."  Yet  there 
was  a  "greater  evil  than  disunion  and  that  was  self 
degradation."  The  Northern  men  must  not  "cast  on  the 
South  a  conviction"  that  they  regarded  Southern  men 
as  inferior  to  themselves.  In  a  third  speech,  on  July 
26,  upon  the  Oregon  bill,  Johnson  suggested  a  reference 
of  the  slavery  question  to  the  Supreme  Court,  as  the 
only  amicable  way  of  adjusting  a  question  which  "threat 
ened  the  honor  and  interests  of  the  South."  With  con 
siderable  heat,  he  claimed  that  northern  men  had  in 
sulted  Southerners  in  this  debate  and  the  men  of  the 
South  would  rather  yield  their  lives,  than  "do  the  bid 
ding  of  the  North,"  but  would  bow  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  whose  decision  would  be  acquiesced  in  by  all. 
The  South  was  willing  to  abide  by  the  law  and  there 
would  "not  be  found,  in  the  whole  Southern  bar,  a 
lawyer  who  would  not  give,  gratuitously,  his  services  to 
a  black  man  to  free  him  from  slavery,  while  there  was  a 
reasonable  ground  for  the  application."  The  Northern 
States  had  only  recently  abolished  slavery  and  Con 
necticut  had  scarcely  become  a  free  State,  while  neither 
that  State,  New  York,  nor  New  Jersey  allowed  negroes 
to  vote.  The  Free  State  men  should  have  offered  to 
extend  the  Missouri  Compromise  line.21 

Johnson's  only  other  action  of  note  at  this  session 
was  the  presentation  of  a  memorial,  on  April  n,  for 
an  appropriation  for  the  establishment  of  institutions 
for  instruction  in  science,  engineering,  agriculture  and 
mechanics.  He  urged  the  favorable  consideration  of 
this  request  and  maintained  its  constitutionality. 

21  On  August  10,  he  spoke  for  a  fourth  time  on  the  bill,  to  the  same  purpose. 


34  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

At  the  session  of  1848  and  1849,  Johnson's  activity 
was  less  important22  and,  on  March  9,  he  sent  in  his 
resignation  of  his  senatorship,  as  he  had  been  appointed 
Attorney-General  by  President  Taylor. 

When  Zachary  Taylor  was  elected  president  in  1848, 
a  bill  was  pending  for  the  establishment  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  the  Interior,  and  certain  senators  were  induced 
to  vote  for  it  and  thus  secure  its  passage  upon  repre 
sentations  made  them  that,  if  a  new  secretaryship  were 
created,  Taylor  would  be  able  to  find  a  place  among 
his  heads  of  departments  for  Reverdy  Johnson,23  for 
whom  they  had  a  deep  admiration.24  Johnson  held  the 
position  of  attorney-general  until  Taylor's  death,  in  the 
summer  of  1850.  His  opinions  are  of  little  interest.25 

In  general  he  believed   in   following  the  doctrine  of 

22  On  December  18,  he  opposed  allowing  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  the 
Postmaster  General  to  have  full  power  to  contract  with  the  Panama  railroad, 
because  of  the  danger  of  exorbitant  rates.     On  January  18  and  24,  he  attacked 
a  bill  to  make  Captain  Percival  pay  the  expense  of  a  naturalist,  who  was  em 
ployed  without  authority  on  an  exploring  expedition,  since  the  naturalist  had 
brought  home  minerals,  which  the  United  States  holds,  and  rare  seeds  which 
had  been  distributed  throughout  the  country  by  members  of  Congress.     On 
January  26,  he  again  spoke  favoring  the  payment  of  Texan  debts  for  building 
men  of  war.     Texas  can  not  now  lay  import  duties,  and  her  lands  may  not  be 
worth  anything  for  years,  while  the  United  States  took  over  the  vessels.     On 
March  4,  he  opposed  a  bill  extending  the  privileges  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
to  the  territory  of  California  on  the  ground  that  the  bill  was  not  necessary, 
since  the  extension  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  the  territory  will  cover 
the  ground. 

23  See  remarks  of  H.  S.  Foote  in  Proceedings  of  Bench  and  Bar  after  Johnson's 
death. 

24  Wm.  H.  Seward  (2   Seward's   Seward  103)  wrote  to  Thurlow  Weed  on 
March  4,  that  Johnson  for  Attorney-General   "is  very  well."     On  February 
28,  1847,  Seward  had  written  Weed  from  Washington  (2  Seward's  Seward  38) 
that  Johnson  sought  to  know  whether  New  York  would  be  content  to  let 
Mangum,  a  slave  holder,  be  Vice  President.     Johnson  seemed  to  Seward  to 
favor  McLean. 

25  Opinions  of  the  Attorney-General,  pp.  1993-2092.     7  Exec.  Docs.,  3ist 
Cong.  2nd  Sess. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  35 

stare  decisis  with  reference  to  the  opinions  of  his  prede 
cessors,  though  he  decided  differently  from  them,  when 
he  saw  good  cause  to  do  so.  His  most  interesting  deci 
sion,  especially  in  view  of  his  later  diplomatic  career, 
is  one  against  allowing  the  purchase  and  fitting  out  in 
New  York  of  a  steamer  by  the  German  government, 
as  an  act  contrary  to  the  neutrality  law,  inasmuch  as 
the  ulterior  purpose  of  Germany  was  to  use  the  vessel 
in  the  war  against  Denmark.  In  many  respects,  John 
son  was  admirably  adapted  to  be  attorney  general  and 
it  may  be  regretted  that  he  had  not  greater  opportunity 
to  distinguish  himself  in  that  office.  Judge  Dennis 
rightly  says  his  highest  fame  will  always  rest  "upon  his 
achievements  as  a  constitutional  lawyer."  He  early 
constructed  for  himself  a  system  of  constitutional  inter 
pretation,  to  which  he  held  with  marvellous  consistency 
throughout  the  shifting  scenes  of  his  life,  and  so  wide 
was  the  extent  of  his  exposition  of  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion  that  it  would  be  possible  to  construct  almost  a 
complete  commentary  on  that  great  document  from  his 
published  speeches  and  addresses. 

Crawford,  the  Secretary  of  War,  had  been  attorney 
for  the  Galphin  claim  against  the  Federal  government 
and  received  half  of  the  award,  and,  as  Johnson  said 
the  law  of  1848  allowed  interest,  Crawford  received 
$94,000.  This  produced  a  scandal.  Crawford  said  that 
he  never  told  Meredith,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
nor  Johnson,  of  his  connection  with  the  case,  but  merely 
urged  a  prompt  decision,  and  Johnson  said  that  he  had 
no  knowledge  of  Crawford's  interest.  The  papers  in 
the  case  showed  the  interest,  so  Johnson  confessed  to 
a  cursory  examination  of  the  matter.  A  resolution  was 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  disap 
proving  of  Johnson's  action,  and  Taylor  discussed  with 


36  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Thurlow  Weed  replacing  all  three  cabinet  officers  by 
others,  but  the  President's  death  put  an  end  to  the 
difficulty.26 

After  retiring  from  the  attorney  generalship,  Johnson 
returned  to  the  active  practice  of  the  law  and,  for  a 
decade,  but  fleeting  glimpses  are  caught  of  him.  In 
1850,  he  opposed  Edwin  M.  Stan  ton  as  attorney  in  the 
well-known  Wheeling  Bridge  Case.27  He  had  previously 
argued  with  John  B.  Henderson  against  Henry  D.  Gilpin, 
the  case  in  which  the  Woodsworth  planing  machine 
patent  of  1828  was  involved,28  and  the  case  of  Waring 
v.  Clarke,  in  which  he  found  J.  J.  Crittenden  against 
him  and  which  foreshadowed  the  later  decisions  as  to 
admiralty  jurisdiction.29  In  1854,  ne  was  associated 
with  Thaddeus  Stevens  in  securing  a  decision  in  favor 
of  the  validity  of  the  McCormick  reaper  patent,30  and 
two  years  later,  he  took  part  in  a  second  suit  between 
the  same  parties,  having  Abraham  Lincoln  and  E.  M. 
Dickerson  as  his  associates  and  Edwin  M.  Stan  ton  as 
one  of  his  opponents.31  The  case  was  first  tried  in  the 
Circuit  Court  in  Ohio  before  Judge  McLean,  and,  being 
appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court,  was  heard  there  in  i857.32 

26  See  i  Rhodes  U.  S.  202-204,  J  Weed  Autobiography  589  (on  p.  587  Weed 
wrote  that  he  went  to  Washington  when  Taylor  was  inaugurated  and  "called 
upon  the  Attorney-General,  Reverdy  Johnson,  with  whom  I  had  long  been 
intimate  who  received  me  so  coldly  that  I  did  not  even  sit  down."    This  is  an 
unusual  statement,  for  Johnson  was  usually  very  genial). 

27  Pennsylvania  v.  Wheeling  and  Belmont  Bridge  Co.,  9  Howard  649.     On 
May  28  and  29,  1851,  he  argued  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  in  New 
York  in  a  case  concerning  the  property  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

28  4  How.  646. 

29  (1847)  5  How.  341. 

30  Seymour  v.  McCormick  16.  How.  480. 

31  George  Harding  was  with  Stanton  in  the  Circuit  Court  and  Henry  R. 
Selden  and  P.  H.  Watson  were  also  against  Johnson  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
Seymour  v.  McCormick  19  How.  96,  appeal  from  6  McLean  529. 

32  Dickerson,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  after  Johnson's  death, 
referred  to  this  case  argued,  by  Johnson,  when  he  "was  in  the  maturity  of  his 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  37 

In  1855,  he  was  engaged  with  J.  M.  Campbell  in  the 
important  cases  of  Williams  v.  Gibbs  and  Gooding  v. 
Oliver.33  In  1854,  he  was  employed,  together  with  Lord 
Cairns,  as  counsel  in  London  to  argue  a  claim  before 
the  Joint  English  and  American  commission  established 
under  the  treaty  of  i854,34  and  while  there  he  received 
much  attention  from  public  men  and  from  members  of 
the  English  bar.  Shortly  after  his  return  from  England, 
he  became  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  defense  in  the  great 
Dred  Scott  case  before  the  Federal  Supreme  Court.35 
Johnson  illustrated  a  conspicuous  characteristic  of  his 
character,  by  entering  this  case  without  any  fees.  The 
other  counsel  upon  both  sides  also  served  without  fees 
in  this  case.  This  was  not  an  isolated  instance  of  John 
son's  serving  without  remuneration.  Although  he  was 
said  to  receive  larger  fees  than  any  other  member  of 
the  American  bar,  when  either  his  sense  of  justice  or 
the  presence  of  some  nice  constitutional  or  legal  point 
was  noticed  in  the  case,  he  frequently  volunteered  his 
services  and  kept  up  this  generous  practice  until  the 
last  days  of  his  life.  The  Dred  Scott  case  was  heard 
twice,  and  Senator  Gey er  of  Missouri,  a  native  of  Mary 
land,  was  with  Johnson  at  both  hearings.  Against  them 
was  Montgomery  Blair,  with  whom  George  Ticknor 
Curtis  was  joined  at  the  second  hearing,  on  December 
1 8,  1856.  Years  afterwards,  when  Johnson  was  dead, 
Curtis  said:36 

strength  and  with  a  reputation  secured  and  safe,"  and  said  that  Andrew  John 
son  was  concerned  in  the  case  also. 

33  17  Howard  239  &  274.     He  was  for  appellees  and  secured  a  reversal  of  the 
Court  below.    The  case  arose  out  of  a  claim  for  fitting  out  of  an  expedition 
about  1816  to  attempt  to  secure  Mexican  independence. 

34  86  Eclectic  502. 

35  Vide  2  Nicholay  &  Hay's  Lincoln  64. 

36  In  remarks  published  in  Proceedings  of  Bench  and  Bar  after  Johnson's 
death. 


38  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

"It  was  the  forcible  presentation  of  the  southern  view  of 
our  Constitution,  in  respect  to  the  relation  to  slavery  to  the 
territories  and  of  the  territories  to  the  nation,  that  contributed 
more  than  anything  else  to  bring  about  the  decision  that  was 
made  in  this  case.  I  believe  that  he  held  those  opinions  with 
entire  sincerity;  at  any  rate,  he  enforced  them  with  great  power. 
Those  who  were  opposed  to  him  (and  I  happened  to  be  one  of 
them)  felt  the  force  of  his  arguments  and  foresaw  what  their 
effect  would  be  on  a  majority  of  the  Court." 

In  his  defense  of  the  Court,  and  particularly  of  Chief 
Justice  Taney,37  for  this  decision,  Johnson  was  always 
most  emphatic,38  and  the  only  time  in  his  senatorial 
service  during  the  Civil  War  Period,  when  he  lost  con 
trol  of  himself  and  made  a  bitter  personal  attack  upon 
his  antagonists  was  in  defence  of  his  friend,  the  Chief 
Justice,  of  whom  after  his  death  it  was  proposed  to 
provide  a  bust  by  federal  appropriation.39 

37  For  example  in  a  letter  to  a  public  meeting  at  Baltimore  on  March  6' 
1858,  Tyler's  Taney,  p  385.  In  this  letter,  which  is  also  printed  in  B.  R. 
Curtis's  Life  237,  Johnson  pleaded  that,  if  McLean  and  Curtis  gave  separate 
opinions,  so  should  all  other  judges. 

f  38  3  Scharf  Md.  309.  On  October  13,  1864,  Johnson  spoke  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Baltimore  upon  the  occasion  of  Taney's  death  and 
defended  him  as  historically  right  in  saying  a  negro  had  no  rights,  etc.  We 
saw  in  Taney,  Johnson  said,  "everything  that  characterized  a  good  and  hu 
mane  citizen We  knew  him  to  be  humane,  to  be  charitable, 

to  be  a  Christian  gentleman."     See  also  Tyler's  Taney,  pp.  492,  496. 

39  2  Rhodes  U.  S.  255  &  269.  Ex-Senator  Bradbury  told  Rhodes  that  north 
ern  Democrats  in  1857  said  that  Johnson  induced  Taney  to  give  the  "political" 
decision.  Pike  wrote  to  the  Tribune  of  Johnson  that  "no  man  is  so  intimate 
with  and  no  man  possesses  so  much  influence  over  the  Chief  Justice  as  he," 
and  Rhodes  says  that  Johnson's  social  relations  with  Taney  were  such  that  his 
views  could  be  enforced  in  private  conversation,  but  gives  no  proof  that  this 
was  done.  Judge  Brewer  (98  Atlantic  Monthly  590)  relates  a  story  of  Johnson 
showing  another  side  of  his  character,  to  the  effect  that  once,  when  "employed 
to  defend  parties  in  South  Carolina,  charged  with  cruelty  to  negroes,"  he  "was 
so  shocked  by  the  revelations  of  the  character  of  his  clients  that,  in  the  midst 
of  the  trial,  he  abandoned  the  case  and  left  it  to  the  care  of  junior  counsel." 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  39 

He  possessed  a  marvellous  power  of  making  and  keep 
ing  friends  in  both  political  camps,  and,  when  Brooks 
assaulted  Charles  Sumner,  sent  promptly  a  message  of 
"kindest  remembrance"  to  the  latter,  asking  concerning 
his  condition  and  expressing  the  "  highest  regard  for 
him  as  a  friend,  though  differing  with  him  on  the  excit 
ing  question  of  the  day.40  When  Mr.  Justice  B.  R. 
Curtis,  one  of  the  minority  in  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
resigned  from  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1857, 
Johnson  wrote  him  twice,  expressing  his  regret41  and 
adding  that:  "It  would  much  increase  the  true  con 
cern  of  losing  you  to  the  bench,  if  I  thought  that  I  was 
not  often  to  meet  you.  It  is  in  all  sincerity  that  I 
assure  you  that  much  of  the  gratification  I  have  had  in 
attending  the  Supreme  Court,  was  that  you  were  of 
it."42  At  the  break-up  of  the  Whig  party,  in  1854,  John 
son  affiliated  himself  with  the  Democrats,43  and,  in  1856, 
he  is  said  to  have  made  an  eloquent  address  in  favor 
of  the  election  of  Buchanan  to  the  Presidency.44 

Although  absent  from  a  dinner  at  the  Maryland  Insti 
tute,  on  September  18,  1855,  given  in  celebration  of  the 
anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  Johnson  sent  a  letter  to  be  read  on  that 
occasion,  eulogizing  the  constitution  thus: 

"The  good  and  great  men,  who  framed  it,  saw  that  without 
that,  or  some  equivalent  government,  the  useful  union  of  the 

40  3  Pierce's  Sumner  496. 

41  From  Saratoga  N.  Y.  on  September  1 1  and  from  Baltimore  on  September  22. 
42 1  B.  R.  Curtis's  Life  pp.  260  &  261.     The  social  side  of  Johnson's  nature 

is  also  shown  from  the  fact  that,  on  February  17,  1859,  he  acted  as  one  of  the 
managers  from  the  citizens  of  Washington  at  a  ball  to  celebrate  the  peace  of 
1815  with  Great  Britain.  2  Seward's  Seward  358. 

43  Without  fully  identifying  himself  with  them. 

44  See  Forney's  remarks  in  Proceedings  of  Bench  and  Bar  after  Johnson's 
death. 


40  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

United  States  could  not  be  preserved,  or  the  prosperity  and 
power  inseparable  from  such  a  Union  attained.  The  result  of 
their  deliberations,  conducted  as  these  were,  with  a  pure  patriot 
ism  and  an  enlightened  spirit,  has  made  us  what  we  are,  a 
happy,  a  free,  and  a  great  nation." 

He  opposed  the  Know  Nothing  party,  then  growing 
in  strength,  and,  arguing  in  behalf  of  religious  freedom, 
said  that  Taney  was  a  proof  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  not  dangerous  to  American  freedom.  The 
rules  of  naturalization  may  be  too  lax,  but  to  exclude 
naturalized  citizens  from  office  is  a  clear  violation  of 
the  constitution  and  carries  with  it  national  dishonor.45 
In  the  Democratic  party,  he  was  never  fully  at  home, 
and,  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  he  said:  "I  never 
really  was  a  Democrat,"  but,  while  he  was  in  the  ranks 
of  that  party,  he  followed  Douglas  and  was  an  advocate 
of  popular  or  squatter  sovereignty.46  We  have  seen  him 
expressing  views  of  that  character  in  the  Senatorial 
debates  at  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War  and  he  devel 
oped  the  same  views  in  a  pamphlet,  which  he  wrote  in 
i85Q.47  This  pamphlet  was  issued  in  anticipation  of  the 
Democratic  presidential  convention  at  Charleston  to  urge 
the  readoption  of  the  platform  of  1856.  If  the  party 
abandon  popular  sovereignty,  it  will  be  a  stain  on  its 
good  name,  will  cause  the  people  to  cease  to  trust  it, 
and  even  may  lead  to  "calamity  ....  beyond 
remedy,  perpetual  and  fatal."  John  Brown  and  Seward 
had  shown  the  need  of  democratic  harmony  to  prevent 

45  James  Raymond  "Political"  p.  326. 

46  Howell  Cobb  wrote  Buchanan  on  August  4,  1856,  that  it  was  expected  that 
Johnson  would  "be  out"  in  a  letter,  supporting  the  Democratic  ticket.     Corre 
spondence  of  Toombs,  Stephens  &  Cobb  2  Am.  Hist.  Ass.  Kept.  191 1,  p.  379. 

47  'Remarks  on  Popular  Sovereignty,  as  maintained  and  denied  respectively 
by  Judge  Douglas  and  Attorney  General  Black  by  a  Southern  Citizen."    Vide 
2  Am.  Hist.  Ass.  Rept.  1911,  448. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  4! 

the  extinction  of  slavery.  Johnson  denied  that  the 
Supreme  Court  had  touched  upon  the  matter  at  all  in 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  which  he  vigorously  defends, 
and,  with  great  adroitness  and  acumen,  pressed  the  point 
that  the  decision  had  merely  denied  the  right  of  Congress 
to  restrict  slavery  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States. 
The  question  as  to  the  right  of  territorial  inhabitants 
to  regulate,  or  restrict  it,  had  not  been  touched,  and,  as 
laws  concerning  slavery  were  different  in  the  several 
slave  States,  there  must  be  some  authority  to  frame  local 
regulations,  or  hopeless  confusion  would  result.  Slavery 
is  a  creature  of  "positive  law"  and  was  not  named  in 
the  Constitution,  because  the  "  owners  of  such  property 
were  not  then  so  sensitive  as  they  are  now,"  when  the 
"assaults"  hurled  at  them  by  a  "body  of  frenzied  or 
knavish  citizens"  of  the  Northern  States,  had  deter 
mined  them  to  maintain  and  vindicate  the  institution 
upon  social,  moral,  religious,  and  political  grounds." 
Unless  there  was  power  in  the  territorial  legislature, 
however,  to  exclude  slavery,  it  might  be  made  per 
petual  against  the  wishes  of  the  people. 

In  the  turbulent  local  politics  of  Baltimore,  Johnson 
took  his  part.  He  joined  a  committee  of  citizens  to 
urge  the  governor  not  to  call  out  the  military  forces 
on  election  day  in  i857.48  In  1860,  the  new  law,  pro 
viding  that  the  police  force  of  the  City  should  be  taken 
from  under  the  control  of  the  municipal  authorities  and 
placed  under  commissioners  appointed  by  the  State  gov 
ernment,  came  before  the  Court  of  Appeals  for  decision 
as  to  its  constitutionality.  Johnson,  with  other  eminent 
lawyers,49  defended  the  law.  In  their  argument  and  in 

48  3  Scharf,  Md.  260,  p.  276.     In  November  1859  he  sat  on  one  occasion  in 
the  City  Reform  Committee. 

49  Scharf,  Chron.  of  Balto.  575.     S.  Teackle  Wallis,  J.  M.  Campbell  and  W. 
H.  Norris. 


42  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

the  opinion  of  the  Court,  the  whole-  relation  of  munici 
palities  to  the  State  was  elaborately  set  forth.50  Of 
other  important  cases  before  the  Courts  we  catch 
glimpses,  and  find  him  defending  a  Naval  Officer  before 
a  court  of  inquiry,51  winning  an  important  case  in  refer 
ence  to  Arkansas  swamp  lands,  and  gaining  great  famil 
iarity  with  government  land  grants  in  the  northwest 
and  in  California. 

Though  he  became  a  communicant  church  member 
late  in  life,  Johnson  was  a  deeply  religious  man,  and, 
in  a  trip  to  San  Francisco  in  1860,  he  was  induced  to 
deliver  an  address  on  October  18,  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Church  of  the  Advent,  upon  the  "Influence  of 
Christianity  on  the  Individual  and  Social  Condition  of 
Man."  The  address  was  printed  in  pamphlet  form,62 
and  shows  a  profound  confidence  in  the  authenticity 
and  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  the  power  of  Christ's  life, 
and  the  complete  triumph  of  Christianity  in  the  future. 
The  power  of  the  United  States  to  assist  in  the  progress 
of  religion  is  "  manifestly  dependent  ....  on 
our  remaining  a  united  people." 

60  A.  H.  Garland  in  His  Experiences  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  U.  S.,  p.  5, 
states  that,  on  December  26,  1860,  Johnson  proposed  his  name  for  admission 
to  the  bar  of  that  Court.  After  the  admission,  Garland  four  times  rose  to 
visit  the  Senate,  but  Johnson  asked  him  to  stay  and  hear  the  speeches.  Finally, 
Johnson  took  him  to  the  Senate  and  procured  him  a  good  seat.  Garland  also 
tells  a  story  of  Johnson's  berating  a  man  who  had  recently  published  one  of 
Johnson's  letters  showing  that  he  had  been  inconsistent.  "Make  him  produce 
the  original  letter,"  said Badger,  who  was  present.  "Why?"  asked  John 
son.  Badger  replied:  "No  one  on  earth  can  read  it  but  yourself  and  you  can 
read  it  to  suit  yourself." 

51  In  1857,  Captain  W.  K.  Latimer. 

52  San  Francisco  1860,  pp.  18.    He  went  there  by  way  of  Panama.     See 
Md.  Hist.  Mag.  for  September,  1914. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STRUGGLE  IN  MARYLAND  TO  PRESERVE  THE  UNION 

In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1860,  Johnson  natu 
rally  supported  Douglas.  From  Washington  on  May 
19,  he  wrote  to  the  Chairman  of  a  Douglas  Meeting  to 
be  held  in  New  York  three  days  later,  approving  of  the 
action  of  the  New  York  delegates  at  Charleston  and 
urging  the  defeat  of  Lincoln,  who  is  ''reeking  with  the 
grossest  heresies  of  political  abolitionism,"  and  the  sup 
port  of  popular  sovereignty.  Johnson  had  argued  the 
Dred  Scott  case  twice,  as  the  friend  of  the  South,  and 
firmly  asserted  that  squatter  sovereignty  was  not  only 
not  decided  by  the  court,  but  was  neither  argued,  nor 
in  any  way  presented  for  decision.  He  "never  sup 
posed  that  there  existed  in  any  part  of  the  civilized 
world  a  government  where  slavery  existed,  in  which 
there  was  not  somewhere  authority  to  abolish  it."  A 
few  days  later,  Johnson  delivered  a  stirring  address  at 
a  Douglas  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  in  which 
he  said  that  the  Democratic  party  was  now  the  only 
national  one,  since  the  Whig  party  no  longer  existed.1 
Speaking  in  that  place  sacred  to  liberty  and  to  union, 
he  said  that  slavery  was  the  "sole  cause  of  peril 
.  disturbing  the  fraternal  feeling  which  our 
fathers  entertained."  He  held  slavery  to  be  a  local 
institution,  with  which  Congress  should  not  interfere, 

1  Speech  of  the  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Maryland  delivered  before  the 
political  friends  of  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  at  a  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
Boston,  on  Thursday,  June  7,  1860,  to  which  is  added  the  letter  of  the  Hon. 
Reverdy  Johnson  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Douglas  Meeting  in  New  York  on 
the  22nd  of  May,  1860.  Baltimore  1860,  pp.  16. 

43 


44  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

and  considered  that  the  Kansas  Nebraska  bill  is  praise 
worthy  and  constitutional,  while  secession  is  traitorous.2 
After  Lincoln's  election  and  the  secession  of  South 
Carolina,  Johnson,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  took 
his  place  among  the  foremost  advocates  of  union  and 
opponents  of  secession.  This  position  he  never  left. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  stated  that  he  never  had 
referred  to  the  Confederates  but  as  "traitors,  rebels  or 
insurrectionists."  No  man  could  have  been  fiercer  than 
he  in  his  denunciation  of  that  "mischievous  heresy  of 
secession."  In  December,  1860,  in  concluding  his  argu 
ment  in  an  important  case  in  the  Supreme  Court,  he 
said:*  "This  may  be  the  last  time  this  court  will  sit 
in  peaceful  judgment  on  the  Constitution,  as  acknowl 
edged  and  obeyed  by  all."  He  hoped  heaven  would 
avert  this  calamity,  but,  if  it  should  come,  he  felt  that 
the  record  of  the  court  was  secure.  On  January  10, 
1 86 1,  a  meeting  of  the  friends  of  the  Union  was  held 
in  the  large  hall  of  the  Maryland  Institute,  on  which 
occasion,  Johnson  delivered  the  principal  address,  a  long 
and  eloquent  oration,  breathing  the  spirit  of  fervent 
loyalty  to  the  Union.4  The  argument  made  here  was 
expressed  by  him  on  other  occasions  in  different  forms, 
but  the  substance  ever  remained  the  same.  In  his  char 
acteristically  long  sentences,  he  discussed  the  history  of 
our  union  of  States,  which  carried  on  the  revolutionary 
war  and  which  the  fathers  intended  to  be  perpetual. 

2  John  A.  Cobb,  a  son  of  Howell  Cobb,  wrote  from  the  Gilmor  House,  Balti 
more  on  June  20,  1860  (2  Am.  Hist.  Ass.  Rept.,  1911,  p.  483),  that  the  Brecken- 
ridge  "speakers  speak  from  the  balcony  of  that  hotel,  the  Douglasites  from 
Reverdy  Johnson's  house  which  is  just  above,  where  George  Saunders  is  keep 
ing  open  house  and  Douglas  men  can  stay  gratis." 

3  2  Moore's  Rebellion  Record  Document  274. 

4  Proceedings  and  Speeches,  Baltimore  1861,  pp.  20.    Johnson's  speech  is 
also  reported  in  2  Moore's  Rebellion  Record  133.     J.  C.  Legrand  published  a 
reply.    Important  letters  of  this  period  from  Johnson  to  Van  Buren  are  pub 
lished  in  Md.  Hist.  Mag.  for  September,  1914. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  45 

Under  the  Confederation,  a  league  of  States  existed, 
lacking  means  to  enforce  what  powers  were  committed 
to  it,  even  more  than  it  lacked  adequacy  in  the  grant 
of  powers.  In  the  Constitution  there  was  made  a  grant 
of  sufficient  powers  and  of  means  to  enforce  them. 
Under  the  power  to  repress  insurrection,  the  President 
may  prevent  secession.  South  Carolina,  "that  gallant 
state  of  vast  pretentions  but  little  power,  though,  appar 
ently  in  her  own  conceit,  able  to  meet  the  world  in  arms," 
is  venturing  to  act  upon  the  same  fancy  as  in  1830 
when  Webster  defeated  Hayne  in  the  constitutional 
debate,  and  is  perpetrating  treason.  "The  offending 
citizen  cannot  rely,  as  a  defence,  on  State  power.  His 
responsibility  is  to  the  United  States  alone.  His  alle 
giance,  his  paramount  allegiance,  out  of  which  the  respon 
sibility  springs  as  to  all  these  powers,  is  to  that  govern 
ment  alone.  His  State  cannot  legally  protect  him,  or 
stand  in  his  place.  Her  prior  sovereignty  as  to  this 
was  extinguished  by  the  act  of  the  people,  in  adopting 
the  Constitution,  never  again  to  be  resumed  under  that 
instrument."  The  Constitution  is  not  "fatally  impo 
tent."  through  lack  of  coercive  power.  "It  is  true,  it 
contains  no  power  to  declare  war  against  a  State,  but 
it  has  every  power  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the 
enforcement  of  their  penalties.  It  goes  against  the  indi 
vidual  offender.  It  makes  no  appeal  to  the  State  power 
to  protect  it.  For  that  end,  it  is  self-sustaining,  it  is 
its  own  protector.  If  the  State  places  herself  between 
the  United  States  and  the  offending  citizen  and  attempts 
to  shield  him  by  force  of  arms,  it  is  she  who  declares 
war  upon  the  United  States,  not  the  United  States  upon 
her.  In  such  a  contingency,  the  force  used  by  the  latter 
and  which  they  have  a  clear  right  to  use  is  not  in  attack 
but  in  defense,  not  war  but  the  rightful  vindication  of 


46  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

rights  against  unjustifiable  and  illegal  assault."  The 
Federal  government  does  not  coerce  the  State,  but  the 
State's  citizens  and  whether  one  or  all  of  these  must 
be  punished,  makes  no  difference  in  the  legal  position 
of  the  national  authorities.  Lincoln  is  impotent  for 
harm  and  so  there  was  no  present  excuse  for  secession. 
South  Carolina  gets  more  from  the  Union  than  she 
gives  to  it  and  would  be  weak  out  of  it.  The  Border 
States  should  get  together  and  induce  the  adoption  of 
amendments  to  the  Constitution,  safeguarding  the  South 
against  the  danger  of  attack  from  Northern  abolitionists. 
In  his  glowing  peroration,  he  urged  the  reinforcement 
and  defense  of  Fort  Sumter  at  all  hazards. 

Shortly  after  this  meeting,  Governor  Hicks  appointed 
Johnson  one  of  five  delegates  from  Maryland  to  the 
Peace  Congress  at  Washington.5  In  that  Congress,  he 
was  "conspicuous  by  his  earnest  and  eloquent  efforts 
to  avert  the  threatening  calamities  of  civil  war  by  meas 
ures  of  conciliation"6  and  served  on  a  committee  of  one 
from  each  State  to  report  what  they  "deem right,  neces 
sary  and  proper  to  restore  harmony  and  preserve  the 
Union,"  in  which  committee  he  advocated  earnestly  the 
proposed  compromise  amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
in  the  hope  that  they  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  South.7 

When  the  Committee  reported  favoring  an  establish 
ment  of  slavery  in  all  territory  south  of  36°  30',  and  Curtis 
expressed  the  fear  that  all  future  acquired  lands  would 
be  south  of  that  parallel,  Johnson,  on  February  16, 

6  The  others  were  A.  W.  Bradford,  Wm.  T.  Goldsborough,  J.  W.  Crisfield 
and  J.  D.  Roman.  3  Scharf's  Md.  380.  On  February  21,  Johnson,  being  ill, 
sent  a  proxy  to  Bradford. 

6  86  Eclectic  502. 

7  Henry  Watterson,  in  Cosmopolitan  for  March  1909  at  p.  364,  wrote  that 
Johnson  and  Bell,  at  the  time  of  Lincoln's  inauguration,  believed  that  there 
would  be  no  war  and  that  the  troubles  would  be  tided  over. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  47 

moved  to  insert  the  word  "present"  before  the  word 
territory,  and  added  that  he  thought  that  "no  territory 
will  be  acquired  hereafter  without  great  unanimity." 
As  he  was  physically  unable  to  speak,  he  asked  that  the 
discussion  be  deferred.8 

On  the  next  day9  Johnson  said,  "There  ought  to  be 
no  ambiguity  in  a  Constitutional  provision,"  and  so  his 
amendment  was  wise,  although  the  doctrine  of  the  Dred 
Scott  case  would  probably  confine  the  application  of  the 
unamended  proposition  to  existing  territory.  Johnson 
held  that  the  Supreme  Court  said  that  "territories" 
meant  those  existing  when  the  Constitution  was  formed, 
and,  while  he  thought  the  decision  was  wrong,  he  admitted 
that  it  was  binding.  He  objected  to  inserting  the 
word  "future,"  as  it  would  be  odious  to  put  words  into 
the  Constitution  "which  should  go  forth  to  the  world 
as  an  indication  that  this  government  proposes  to  acquire 
new  territory."  If  the  Constitution  had  said  "any," 
Taney  would  have  been  obliged  to  decide  differently. 
The  South  had  been  beaten  in  the  election  and  "we 
ought  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  majority  of  the 
Convention  and  limit  the  amendment  to  "present  terri 
tory."  The  question  should  be  settled,  "fairly  recog 
nizing  and  acknowledging  the  rights  of  all,"  so  that  the 
Slave  States  "may  remain  brethren  forever  with  the 
free  States."  We  have  now  a  "territory  extensive 
enough  to  sustain  two  hundred  millions  of  people,  em 
bracing  almost  every  climate,  fruitful  in  almost  every 
species  of  production,  rich  in  all  the  elements  of  national 
wealth,  and  governed  by  a  Constitution  that  has  raised 

8  L.  E.  Chittenden's  Report  of  the  Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Confer 
ence  Convention  for  Proposing  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  p.  72. 

9  Chittenden's  report  82. 


48  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

us  to  an  elevation  of  grandeur  that  the  world  has  never 
before  witnessed."  We  should  not  separate  on  account 
of  territory  which  we  have  not  and  do  not  want.  If  the 
amendment  passes,  it  will  be  difficult  to  annex  territory, 
since  annexation  can  only  come  by  treaty  approved  by 
four-fifths  of  the  Senate.10 

When  Roger  S.  Baldwin  of  Connecticut  objected  to 
the  method  advocated  for  proposing  amendments,  John 
son  and  Collamer  replied  that  Congress  may  and  should 
propose  amendments,  when  asked  by  any  State  or  con 
siderable  section  of  the  Union.  Johnson  stated  that  the 
delegates  "came  on  Virginia's  invitation,  who  saw  that 
the  country  was  going  to  ruin."  "The  circumstances 
affecting  the  condition  of  the  South  which  aroused  her 
to  that  frenzy  which  falls  on  every  patriotic  mind  when 
it  witnesses  a  country  going  to  destruction,"  led  her  to 
invite  all  the  "  States  to  join  in  obtaining  a  suitable 
adjustment.  Something  must  be  done.  Our  credit  is 
gone."  Steps  must  be  taken  "quickly  or  the  new  Pres 
ident  will  have  only  States  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  to  govern,  if  he  is  to  govern  in  peace."  "I  think 
there  is  no  right  of  secession,"  but  there  is  a  "higher 
right,"  that  of  revolution,  used  when  nine  States  adopted 
the  Constitution.  Seddon  retorted:  "they  used  the 
right  of  secession,"  and  Johnson,  disturbed  from  his 
usual  serenity,  answered:  "I  won't  dispute  about  terms. 
In  all  such  discussions,  Heaven  save  me  from  a  Virginia 
politician."  Madison,  in  the  Federalist,  had  said,  how 
ever,  that  if  one  section  of  the  Union  refused  to  recog 
nize  and  protect  the  rights  of  another  part,  the  latter 
had  the  right  to  go  out.  Some  of  the  Southern  States 
had  already  gone  out.  Does  the  North  wish  "us"  to  go 

10  Johnson  would  have  preferred  a  two-thirds  vote,  in  which  a  majority  from 
both  free  and  slave  States  should  be  included. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  49 

out?  If  not,  he  entreated  the  Northern  delegates  to 
grant  us  "what  we  are  willing  to  stand  upon."  "At 
least,  this  will  save  the  rest  of  the  States  to  yourselves 
and  to  us"  and  settle  the  question  of  slave  extension  by 
dividing  the  territory.  By  this  proposal,  the  South 
gives  up  rights  under  the  Dred  Scott  decision  and  it  is 
not  certain  that  all  territories  south  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  line  will  become  Slave  States.  If  nothing 
is  done  in  the  Convention,  war  must  come. 

After  an  absence  of  several  days  on  account  of  illness, 
Johnson  voted  on  February  23,  in  the  minority  of  the 
Maryland  delegation  with  Mr.  Crisfield,  against  Seddon's 
proposition  that  appointments  to  office  south  of  36°  30' 
be  made  on  the  recommendation  of  a  majority  of  the 
Senators  from  the  Slave  States,  those  north  of  that 
parallel  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Senators  from 
the  free  States.11  On  the  same  day,  he  spoke  again 
on  the  acquisition  of  territory,  which  he  thought  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  held  was  only  possible  as  a  pre 
liminary  to  Statehood.  He  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
Convention  to  add  to  the  amendment  that  territory  could 
only  be  acquired  by  treaty,  a  provision  that  it  might 
also  be  acquired  without  treaty  by  discovery  and  for 
naval  and  commercial  depots  and  transit  routes.12 

On  February  27,  just  before  the  final  adjournment  of 
the  Convention,  Johnson  offered  a  resolution  that  the 
passage  of  secession  ordinances  is  an  "event  deeply  to 
be  deplored"  and  expressing  the  "earnest  hope"  that 
the  seceding  States  may  "soon  see  cause  to  resume  their 
honored  places  in  this  confederacy  of  States.  Yet  to 
the  end  that  such  return  may  be  facilitated  and  from 
the  conviction  that  the  Union,  being  formed  by  the  assent 

11  Chittenden,  p.  334. 

12  Chittenden,  p.  340. 


5O  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

of  the  people  of  the  respective  States  and  being  com 
patible  only  with  freedom  and  the  republican  institutions 
guaranteed  to  each,  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be  main 
tained  by  force,  we  deprecate  any  effort  by  the  Federal 
Government  to  coerce,  in  any  form,  the  said  States  to 
reunion  or  submission,  as  tending  to  irreparable  breach 
and  leading  to  incalculable  ills,  and  we  earnestly  invoke 
the  abstinence  from  all  counsels  or  measures  of  com 
pulsion  towards  them."13  It  was  far  too  late  for  such 
an  attempt  at  irenical  settlement  of  the  difficulties:  in  a 
week,  Abraham  Lincoln  would  be  inaugurated  as  Presi 
dent,  in  a  few  weeks  more  both  parties  would  invoke 
the  fierce  arbitrament  of  war.  Yet  the  Peace  Confer 
ence  was  not  wholly  fruitless,  for  it  showed  the  country 
that  peace  was  an  impossible  goal  to  reach  except  through 
war. 

Johnson  had  always  favored  moderate  measures14  and 
had  opposed  the  hanging  of  John  Brown.  The  day  for 
compromise,  however,  was  past.  Fort  Sumter  fell  and 
the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  fought  the  mob  in 
the  Baltimore  Streets.  With  a  delegation  of  prominent 
Baltimoreans,15  Johnson  came  to  Lincoln  to  learn  if  he 
meditated  invasion  of  the  South,  and  though  the  con 
tents  of  Lincoln's  confidential  answer  of  April  24,  that 
he  intended  merely  to  protect  the  capital,16  were  speedily 
transmitted  to  the  Confederate  authorities,  through 
Johnson's  incautiousness,  yet  relations  of  cordial  sup- 

13  Chittenden,  p.  449. 

14  On  July  29,  1861,  S.  S.  Cox  proposed  that  a  peace  commission  of  seven 
citizens  be  appointed,  nominating  on  it  Johnson  with  Edward  Everett,  Franklin 
B.  Pierce,  Martin  Van  Buren,  Millard  Fillmore,  Thomas  Ewing  and  James 
Guthrie.     Cox,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  314. 

16  Johnson,  "a  lawyer  and  statesman  of  fame  and  influence  both  at  home 
and  abroad."  4  Nicolay  and  Hay's  Lincoln,  164. 

16  Johnson  replied  to  Lincoln's  letter:  "In  a  word,  all  that  your  note  sug 
gests  would  be  my  purpose,  were  I  intrusted  with  your  high  office." 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  5! 

port  of  Lincoln  by  Johnson  were  established  for  the 
time.  This  led  Lincoln  to  request  Johnson  to  answer 
Taney's  opinion  in  Ex  parte  Merryman,  as  to  the  right 
of  the  President  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 
Johnson,  for  once,  differed  with  Taney  and  wrote  a 
reply  to  him,  in  which,  with  great  perspicacity,  the  con 
stitutionality  of  Lincoln's  act  is  defended.17  The  duty 
of  the  President  to  suppress  revolt  and  to  cause  the 
laws  to  be  executed  required  him  to  use  every  legitimate 
means.  Of  the  character  and  extent  of  the  means 
needed  to  enforce  the  laws,  Lincoln  is  to  decide  for 
himself,  subject  to  his  responsibility  to  the  people  and 
to  Congress.  The  power  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  is  not  a  legislative  one,  and  if  the  Constitution 
had  intended  to  have  left  the  power  to  Congress,  it 
would  have  done  so  expressly.  A  state  of  quasi-war 
exists,  the  power  in  question  is  essentially  a  military 
one  and,  "  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
it  is  clear  that,  although  the  power  to  declare  war  is 
vested  solely  in  Congress,  the  conduct  of  the  war  is 
solely  with  the  President."  Johnson  always  laid  em 
phasis  upon  the  fact  that,  though  the  Congressional 
powers  are  enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  the  Execu 
tive  power,  which  is  vested  in  the  President,  is  nowhere 
limited,  and  so,  by  fair  implication,  may  be  considered 
to  cover  the  means  necessary,  faithfully,  to  carry  out 
the  laws.  If  the  President  may  not  suspend  the  writ, 
he  is  made  subordinate,  not  only  "to  the  Supreme  Court 
and  to  every  one  of  its  justices,  but  also  to  every  civil 
functionary  of  Federal,  or  State  government,  who  has 
the  right  to  issue  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  the  power 
of  the  President  to  suppress  insurrection  would  be  ren 
dered  ineffective.  "In  Maryland,  for  instance,  where 

17  Reprinted  in  2  Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  Docs.  p.  185. 


52  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

it  is  believed  disaffection  to  the  Government,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent,  prevails,  and  sympathy  for  the  rebels  is 
entertained,"  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  may  be  "exer 
cised  so  as  seriously  to  disconcert  the  successful  progress 
of  our  army,"  unless  the  fact  be  recognized  that,  in  time 
of  war,  these  civil  guarantees  have  no  place.  Lincoln 
was  serving  the  people  faithfully,  "with  all  the  ability 
he  possesses  in  the  crisis  of  the  government,"  and  John 
son  hoped  that,  when  he  retires  from  the  Presidency, 
he  may  leave  the  people  in  the  "peaceful  and  happy 
enjoyment  of  an  unbroken  Union." 

On  May  7,  Johnson  addressed  the  Brengle  Home 
Guard,  a  Union  Military  Company  of  Frederick,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  presentation  to  them  in  the  court 
house  yard  of  a  flag  by  a  number  of  ladies  of  that  town.18 
On  May  8,  he  wrote  S.  P.  Chase  from  Frederick,  using 
a  Union  envelope,  as  the  only  one  he  could  find  in  the 
town,  and  telling  him  that  "the  Union  sentiment  gets 
stronger  and  stronger,"19  and  on  June  24  he  wrote  Everett, 
answering  a  letter  of  the  i8th  and  authorizing  Everett 
to  say  that  his  speech  in  Frederick  was  conclusive  as 
to  the  position  of  Calhoun  against  secession.20  In  that 
speech,  he  hailed  with  joy  in  "this  existing  crisis"  "every 
indication  of  a  national  patriotic  spirit."  He  spoke  as 
to  Maryland's  duty  and  interest.  The  State  has  ever 
been  loyal  and,  "if  we  continue  true  to  patriotic  duty, 
no  ordinance  of  secession,  direct  or  indirect,  open  or 
covered,  will  ever  be  adopted  by  those  in  authority, 
or,  if  madly  adopted,  be  tolerated  by  the  people.  To 
this  steadfast  attachment  to  the  Union,  we  are  not  only 

18 1  Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  Int.  60,  Docs.  199. 

19  3  Rhodes  U.  S.  388  &  389.  He  believed  that  troops  could  now  pass 
through  Baltimore  without  resistance  and  that  it  would  be  "  mischievous"  to 
have  more  than  one  company  of  "U.  S.  soldiers  in  the  city".  Hicks  agreed 
with  him.  2  Am.  Hist.  Ass.  Rept.,  1902,  497  (Chase  Papers). 

20 1  Moore's  Rebellion  Rec.  Int.  44. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  53 

bound  by  gratitude  to  the  noble  ancestry,  by  whose 
patriotic  wisdom  it  was  bequeathed  to  us  and  by  the 
unappreciable  blessings  the  bequest  has  conferred  upon 
us,  but  by  the  assurance,  which  the  most  solid  interest 
can  hardly  fail  to  feel,  that  its  destruction  would  not 
only  and  at  once  deprive  us  of  all  these,  but  precipitate 
us  into  irretrievable  ruin.  In  this  ruin  all  would  more 
or  less  participate,  but  our  geographical  position  would 
make  it  to  us  immediate  and  total."  He  apologized 
for  the  recent  tumults  in  Baltimore  and  asserted  that, 
in  "  every  true  Maryland  bosom,  there  is  a  devoted 
attachment  to  the  national  emblem.  The  man  who  is 
dead  to  its  influence  is  in  mind  a  fool,  or  in  heart  a 
traitor."  The  Federal  government  had  given  no  "cause 
for  resistance  to  its  rightful  authority,"  and,  since  peace 
ful  disseverance  of  the  States  is  impossible,  the  powers 
which  the  executive  exercised,  when  "rebellion  began 
to  muster  its  armies  of  pestilence,"  were  clearly  consti 
tutional.  If  Lincoln  had  meditated  any  illegal  acts,  the 
"friends  of  constitutional  rights  were  numerous  enough 
in  Congress"  to  have  thwarted  them;  but  the  Southern 
Congressmen,  "madly  desecrating"  the  name  of  Calhoun, 
"rudely  shot  from  their  spheres  and,  under  the  utterly 
ridiculous  claim  of  constitutional  right,"  advised  State 
secession.  If  Maryland  should  join  these  "mad  and 
wicked  men,"  who  must  fail  in  their  attempt,  our  State 
would  be  the  battle-field.  Interest  and  patriotic  duty 
join  to  retain  the  State  in  the  Union.  When  the  first 
gun  was  fired,  "without  cause,"  on  the  "noble  garrison" 
of  Fort  Sumter,  the  secessionists  caused  "every  man 
able  to  bear  arms  to  rush  to  the  support  of  the  govern 
ment."  Where  in  the  past  the  South  could  count  its 
friends  by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  not 
one  is  now  to  be  found.  The  cry  is  "The  Government 
must  be  sustained,  the  flag  must  be  vindicated."  With 


54  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

such  strong  stirring  sentences,  in  the  town  in  which  the 
legislature  was  convened  in  special  session,  Johnson 
cheered  the  Unionists  and  summoned  the  wavering  to 
the  side  of  the  Nation. 

Though  Johnson  insisted  on  the  guilt  of  the  secession 
ists  and  asserted  that  a  conspiracy  of  designing  leaders 
had  deceived  the  people  of  the  South,  when  it  came  to 
a  question  of  the  cases  of  individuals,  he  ceaselessly 
exerted  himself  to  free  from  imprisonment  persons  sus 
pected  of  disloyalty,  especially  those  living  in  Maryland, 
making  his  efforts  sometimes  with  and  sometimes  with 
out  pay.21  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  who  commanded  in 
Maryland  during  a  part  of  1861,  never  forgave  him  for 
this  action,22  and,  indeed,  it  affords  a  curious  glimpse  of 
contemporary  standards  of  public  morals,  when  we  find 
in  the  following  years  that  Johnson  publicly  justified, 
on  the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate,  his  practice 
of  taking  fees,  after  he  became  senator,  to  induce  the 
federal  government  to  free  his  clients  suspected  of 
disloyalty.23 

21  Series  2  War  of  Rebellion  Record  i  p.  628.     Johnson  and  John  P.  Kennedy, 
on  July  4,  1861,  called  on  Lincoln  and  recommended  that  Howard  be  released. 
Tuckerman's  Kennedy,  p.  318.     From  Cumberland  on  October  12,  Johnson 
wrote  urging  the  release  of  Henry  May,  op.  cit.  vol.  2,  p.  800.    On  September 
17,  Camerson  wrote  Seward  that  in  order  to  gratify  Johnson  he  is  willing  to 
permit  Winans  to  go  free  (vol.   i,  p.  682).     On  September  27,  he  wrote  the 
Department  of  State  that  C.  J.  M.  Gwinn,  his  son-in-law,  was  perfectly  loyal 
(vol.  2,  p.  304).     On  November  12,  Johnson   recommended   the   release  of 
Maryland  prisoners  except  the  Mayor  and  police  commissioners  (  vol.  i,  p. 
704),  on  November  25,  we  are  told  that  Johnson  has  the  case  of  A.  A.  Lynch 
on  hand  (vol.  i,  pp.  710,  714),  and,  on  November  27,  General  Dix  wrote  that 
he  thought  Johnson's  list  of  those  to  be   released   was   not   discriminating 
(vol.  i,  p.  712).     In  December,  he   was  interested  in   the  case  of  W.  H. 
Winder  (vol.  2,  p.  736),  and  on  January  24, 1862,  he  recommended  the  release 
of  T.  J.  Claggett  (vol  i,  p.  731). 

22  Butler's  Book,  p.  234,  calls  Johnson  "the  rank  and  bitter  secessionist  and 
worse  than  others,  because  he  concealed  it." 

23  See  also  manuscript  letters  of  Lawrence  Sangster  in  1861,  in  Library  of 
Congress,  attacking  "Reverence"  Johnson  for  securing  releases  for  "rabid  seces 
sionists,"  who  had  the  necessary  fee. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  55 

Johnson's  mediation  is  also  shown  by  his  proposing, 
on  August  22, 24  that  the  boats  between  Baltimore  and 
Southern  Maryland  be  permitted  to  renew  their  trips 
to  carry  freight  and  not  passengers,  so  as  to  enable 
loyal  people  to  send  their  produce  to  the  Baltimore 
markets.25 

Johnson's  kindness  of  heart  was  shown  in  a  letter  he 
wrote  Judah  P.  Benjamin  on  September  26,  1861,  in 
which  he  asked  him  to  send  a  full  brief  in  a  case  in 
which  both  great  lawyers  were  engaged  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  on  receipt  of  which  brief  Johnson,  though  dif 
fering  from  Benjamin,  "totally,  on  the  questions  grow 
ing  out  of  the  deplorable  crisis,"  wrote  that  he  would 
try  to  get  Benjamin  his  fee.26 

During  the  war,  Johnson  also  appeared  as  counsel  for 
army27  officers  who  were  tried  by  court  martial,  General 
Fitz  John  Porter  being  his  best  known  client.28  Johnson 
had  known  Porter  before  being  made  his  counsel  and 
maintained  that  the  charges  against  him  were  malicious 
and  his  defense  was  unanswerable.  The  association  of 
lawyer  and  client  had  added  to  Johnson's  previous  es 
teem  for  Porter,  "the  closer  and  ever  stronger  ties  of 
personal  friendship,"  and  had  caused  him  to  regard  the 

24  Series  i.     War  of  Rebellion  Record  vol.  5,  p.  598. 
26  In  March  1862,  op.  cit.,  vol.  5,  p.  759. 

26  Series  2,  War  of  Rebellion  Record  vol.  2,  pp.  476-477,  Benjamin  in  his 
reply  stated  that  Mrs.  Johnson  had  seemed,  "with  a  woman's  true  instinct," 
to  feel  the  approach  of  the  war. 

27  Col.  Miles  6  Moore's  Rebellion  Rec.  p.  21,  January  i,  1862.     Col.  Kerri 
gan  3  Moore's  Rebellion  Rec.  p.  109,  December  10,  1861. 

28  A  Reply  to  the  Review  of  Judge  Advocate  General  Holt  of  the  Proceed 
ings,  Findings  and  Sentence  of  the  General  Court  Martial  in  the  Case  of  Major- 
General  Fitz  John  Porter  and  a  Vindication  of  that  Officer  by  Reverdy  Johnson, 
1863,  in  a  New  York  edition,  pp.  56,  and  three  Baltimore  editions,  pp.  88. 
An  anonymous  "Reply  to  the  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson's  Attack  on  the  Adminis 
tration"  appeared  1863,  Baltimore  p.  19,  vide  37th  Cong.  3rd  Sess.  Ex.  Doc. 
71,  the  record  of  the  trial,  and  Series  i  War  of  the  Rebellion  Record,  vol.  17 
and  vol.  12,  part  3,  p.  824. 


56  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

officer,  as  a  "brave  soldier,  a  true  patriot,  and  a  noble 
man."29 

On  September  12,  1861,  the  Union  men  of  Baltimore 
County  nominated  Johnson  as  a  candidate  for  the  House 
of  Delegates  and  he  was  elected  as  one  of  the  Union 
majority  of  the  Legislature,  after  an  exciting  campaign 
in  which,  because  of  his  professional  duties,  he  made 
only  one  speech,  but  that  a  noteworthy  one  at  Calverton, 
on  November  4.  In  that  speech,  he  vehemently  at 
tacked  the  secessionists,  in  Maryland  and  in  the  South, 
who  were  responsible  for  this  "  cruel,  and  unprovoked 
rebellion."  He  said  of  these  conspirators  to  destroy  the 
Union  that  before  any  aggression,  "they  threw  aside  the 
mask,  cast  aside  allegiance,  and  avowed  themselves 
rebels  and  traitors."  The  notion  that  State  sovereignty 
was  paramount  to  the  general  Government  was  "not 
only  obscure  in  principle  and  impracticable  in  practice," 
but  was  also  in  direct  conflict  with  the  Constitution. 
Johnson  praised  Governor  Hicks  and  General  McClellan 
and  blamed  the  late  legislature.  Of  course,  there  can 
be  no  coercion  of  a  State,  but  the  powers  of  the  National 
government  are  ample  under  the  Constitution  to  coerce 
individuals.  With  great  forcefulness,  he  insisted  that 
the  war  was  waged,  not  to  subjugate  the  South,  but  to 
"vindicate  the  Constitution  and  laws  and  maintain  the 
existence  of  the  government,"  to  "suppress  the  insur- 

29  In  an  eloquent  peroration,  Johnson  wrote  that  the  object  of  the  rebellion, 
"even  ostentatiously  and  shamelessly  avowed,  is  not  to  vindicate  and  maintain 
freedom,  nor  even  to  rescue  human  slavery,  as  it  at  present  exists  in  some  of 
the  States,  from  the  hazard  of  a  possible  early  overthrow,  but  to  extend  and 
perpetuate  it  through  all  time."  Gettysburg  had  been  fought  and  Johnson 
felt  sure  that  the  fate  of  the  rebellion  was  already  sealed  and  that  "the  very 
leader  of  the  conspiring  band,  for  years  the  plotter  of  the  treason,"  is  losing 
heart.  "In  the  beginning  of  his  wicked  career,"  Jefferson  Davis  "ridiculed 
the  power  of  the  loyal  States.  Now  he  stands  conscience  stricken  and 
appalled." 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  57 

rection,  force  the  citizen  to  return  to  his  duty,  and  restore 
him  to  the  unequalled  benefits  of  the  Union."  "We 
must  remain  faithful  to  duty  and  to  honor' '  and  must 
"avoid,  as  we  would  pestilence  or  famine,  all  communion 
with  treason,"  and  victory  will  be  the  final  result.  The 
House  of  Delegates,  in  which  Johnson  served,  was  one 
of  marked  ability,  containing  such  men  as  John  A.  J. 
Creswell,  Thomas  S.  Alexander,  Thomas  King  Carroll, 
R.  Stockett  Matthews,  J.  V.  L.  Findlay,  and  John  S. 
Berry.  In  it  Johnson  introduced  his  favorite  bill,  allow 
ing  parties  to  testify  in  cases  before  the  courts.  He 
submitted  vigorous  resolves  on  February  26,  "on  the 
subject  of  the  course  the  State  will  pursue  in  the  pres 
ent  rebellion,"  in  which  resolves  an  indignant  denial  is 
made  of  the  statement,  as  an  "unfounded  and  gross 
calumny,"  that  Maryland  is,  at  heart,  really  with  the 
South,  and  an  ardent  loyalty  is  expressed  to  the  federal 
government.30  On  March  5,  1862,  the  legislature  elected 
Johnson  to  the  United  States  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  56 
to  28.  In  the  caucus  the  contest  had  been  a  spirited 
and  very  close  one,  between  Johnson  and  William  Price 
of  Western  Maryland,  who  represented  the  moderate 
men  and  Henry  Winter  Davis,  who  represented  the 
more  radical  element.31  When  Thomas  S.  Alexander, 
the  great  chancery  lawyer,  heard  of  the  nomination,  he 
said:  "Slavery  has  received  the  worst  blow  that  it  has 
ever  yet  met."  Johnson's  senatorial  service,  the  great 
est  and  most  essential  one  which  he  rendered  his  country, 
did  not  begin  until  December,  1863,  though  his  colleague, 
Governor  Hicks,  presented  his  credentials  on  February  3. 

10  4  Moore's  Rebellion  Rec.  140 

31  Johnson  was  nominated  in  the  caucus  by  one  vote  and  after  it,  J.  V.  L. 
Findlay  attempted  to  carry  on  the  fight,  by  having  Thomas  S.  Alexander  run 
as  an  independent  candidate  in  the  open  house.  Letter  of  J.  L.  V.  Findlay 
of  May  2,  1906. 


58  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

In  June,  1862,  Johnson  was  sent  to  New  Orleans  by 
Lincoln,  as  a  special  agent  of  the  State  Department, 
"to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  complaints  made  by 
foreign  consuls  against  the  late  military  proceedings."32 
General  Butler  had  seized  certain  property  of  the  con 
suls  and  of  other  foreign  subjects  and  there  was  con 
siderable  complaint  concerning  the  legality  of  these 
seizures.33  Johnson  arrived  in  New  Orleans  early  in 
July34  and,  after  a  careful  investigation  of  the  matter, 
ordered  a  great  part  of  the  seized  property  to  be  re 
stored.35  On  September  19,  Butler  wrote  Seward:  "An 
other  such  commissioner  as  Mr.  Johnson  sent  to  New 
Orleans  would  render  the  city  untenable.  The  town  got 
itself  into  such  a  state,  while  Mr.  Johnson  was  here, 
that  he  confessed  to  me  he  could  hardly  sleep  for  nerv 
ousness,  from  fear  of  a  rising,  and  hurried  away,  hardly 
completing  his  work,  as  soon  as  he  heard  Bull  Run  was 
to  be  attacked.  The  result  of  his  mission  here  has 
caused  it  to  be  understood  that  I  am  not  supported  by 
the  government  and  that  I  am  soon  to  be  relieved." 

Johnson's  friendliness  for  Southerners  is  shown  by  the 
facts  that,  on  June  23,  in  New  York,  he  was  given  a 
permit  to  visit  Soule  at  Fort  Lafayette,36  and  that  on 

32  Seward  to  Johnson,  June  10,  Series  3  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion, 
vol.  2  p.  239.,  5  Rhodes  U.  S.  277  gives  an  account  of  the  mission.     Johnson's 
report  is  in  37th  Cong.  3rd  Sess.,  Exec.  Doc.  16.;  vide  Series  i  War  of  Rebel 
lion  Record,  vol.  15,  p.  474.     Stanton  to  Butler,  June  10,  1862. 

33  The  Annual  Cyclopedia  for  1862,  page  650,  discusses  Johnson's  dealings 
with  the  Dutch  consul,  vide  Butler's  Book  pp.  522  and  525  for  his  account. 
Parton's  "Butler  in  New  Orleans,"  p.  356,  said  that  Johnson  was  sent  to  comply 
with  the  demands  of  foreign  powers,  if  it  could  be  done  without  concessions 
too  humiliating,  and  that  he  associated  almost  exclusively  with  secessionists 
in  Louisiana,  vide  also  pp.  364  to  377,  380,  385,  387,  389,  391,  470,  472. 

34  Series  i  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  15,  p.  493.     On  June  23,  he 
was  in  New  York  and  (Series  3,  vol.  2,  p.  213)  on  July  10,  he  was  in  New  Orleans. 

35  Series  3  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  2,  p.  572. 

36  Series  2  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  4,  p.  55  and  86. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  59 

September  13,  A.  Walker,  a  prisoner  on  Ship  Island,  writ 
ing  Jefferson  Davis  and  attacking  Butler,  said  that 
Johnson  at  New  Orleans  manifested  "some  sympathy 
for  our  wronged  people  and  some  disgust  for  the  excesses 
and  villainies"  of  Butler. 

Butler  also  conferred  with  Johnson  with  reference  to 
the  shipment  of  cotton  and  sugar,  but  was  disgusted 
with  the  position  of  the  commissioner  in  this  matter 
also.38  Butler  was  anxious  to  have  the  commerce  of  the 
port  of  New  Orleans  reestablished  and  Johnson  wished 
to  cooperate  in  this  object,  but  they  seem  not  to  have 
accomplished  anything.39  As  soon  as  he  arrived  at  New 
Orleans  Johnson  showed  his  distaste  for  military  rule, 
and,  after  consultation  with  Butler,  Gov.  Shepley  of 
Louisiana  was  sent  to  Washington  by  Butler,  while 
Johnson  wrote  Lincoln  expressing  the  fear  that  General 
Phelps  was  crushing  union  feeling  in  the  State.40  Lincoln 
replied,  disagreeing  with  Johnson's  fears,  and  continued: 
"You  remember  telling  me,  the  day  after  the  Baltimore 
mob  in  April,  1861,  that  it  would  crush  all  union  feeling 
in  Maryland  for  me  to  attempt  bringing  troops  over 
Maryland  soil  to  Washington.  I  brought  the  troops, 
notwithstanding,  and  yet  there  was  union  feeling  enough 
left  to  elect  a  legislature  the  next  autumn,  which  in  turn 
elected  a  very  excellent  Union  United  States  Senator.41 
I  am  a  patient  man,  always  willing  to  forgive  on  the 
Christian  terms  of  repentance  and  also  to  give  ample 
time  for  repentance,  still  I  must  save  this  government, 
if  possible.  What  I  cannot  do,  of  course  I  will  not  do, 

87  Series  2  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion.,  Vol.  4,  p.  880. 

38  Vide  Series  3,  Off  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  Vol.  2,  pp.  239  and  284. 

39  Series  3,  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  Vol.  2,  p.  264. 

40  Series  i,  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  Vol.  15,  p.  521  and  series  3,  Vol. 
i,  PP-  53,  528. 

41  Johnson  himself. 


6O  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

but  it  may  as  well  be  understood,  once  for  all,  that  I 
shall  not  surrender  this  game,  leaving  any  available 
card  unplayed."42 

42  In  an  elaborate  letter  to  the  National  Intelligencer  of  December  2,  1862, 
Johnson  refuted  the  charges  made  by  a  New  Orleans  Journal,  reflecting  on  his 
conduct  in  that  city,  6  Moore's  Rebellion  Record  21.  An  interesting  proof  of 
Johnson's  reputation  is  found  in  a  remark  by  Gen.  Wm.  T.  Sherman,  in  a  letter 
to  Gen.  H.  W.  H.  Peck,  in  which  the  former  consents  to  the  publication  of  a 
letter  he  has  written,  if  Johnson  or  some  other  fit  person  mould  it  in  such 
shape  as  not  to  compromise  him.  Off.  Recs.  of  War  of  Rebellion,  series  i,  vol. 
30,  part  i,  p.  235. 


CHAPTER  IV 
SERVICE  IN  THE  SENATE  DURING  THE  WAR  (1863-65) 

On  Johnson's  return  to  Congress,  he  took  a  position, 
at  once,  at  the  head  of  the  Conservative  Union  men 
and  advocated  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and  the 
restoration  theory  of  reconstruction.  He  was  easily  the 
equal  of  any  man  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  and  the 
superior  of  most  of  them  in  the  discussion  of  constitu 
tional  questions,  and  constitutional  questions  were  des 
tined  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  body  during  most  of 
Johnson's  term.  In  repartee,  he  was  quick,  his  memory 
was  so  sure  that  he  could  easily  refute  careless  state 
ments;  his  acuteness  was  so  great  that  he  saw  the  real 
point  at  issue  and  aimed  directly  at  it,  or,  if  he  thought 
that  he  might  throw  his  antagonists  off  the  true  scent, 
he  "  wandered"  into  discussion  of  themes  more  or  less 
closely  related.  His  relations  to  all  the  members  were 
friendly  and  in  debate  he  was  most  courteous.  How 
ever  emphatic  his  words  might  be  in  characterizing  the 
policy  of  his  opponents  on  the  hustings,  in  the  Senate 
his  urbanity  was  almost  unperturbed.  How  much  the 
country  owes  to  his  conciliatory  disposition  during  those 
eventful  years  can  scarcely  be  measured.  He  was  no 
extremist  and  was  ever  willing  to  sink  his  own  views 
as  to  the  expediency,  or  even  as  to  the  constitutionality, 
of  measures,  if  thereby,  he  could  lead  the  majority  to 
some  greatly  desired  end.  His  conduct  was  that  of  a 
statesman,  not  of  a  politician  and,  at  times,  though 
he  opposed  a  bill,  he  would  suggest  amendments  to 
it,  so  as  to  render  it  less  objectionable.  With  Sumner, 
his  conflicts  were  almost  of  daily  occurrence  and,  on 

61 


62  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

constitutional  points,  he  invariably  worsted  him,  while 
he  was  constantly  parrying  Sumner's  thrusts  and  driving 
counter  ones  home.  With  Fessenden,  he  sparred  on 
terms  of  full  equality,  and  that  too  much  forgotten  great 
man,  Lyman  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  was  the  only  senator, 
who,  in  my  judgment,  ever  came  out  victor  in  a  conflict 
with  Johnson. 

Let  us  summarize  his  position  on  the  many  important 
questions  which  came  before  him,  and  then  study  it 
in  more  detail  in  this  and  the  following  chapters.  He 
opposed  the  voluntary  enlistment  of  Indians  and  favored 
that  of  negroes,  while  expressing  the  wish  that  enough 
white  men  might  have  been  found  as  troops  to  have 
ended  the  war.  Slaves,  as  persons,  could  be  legally 
enlisted,  but  did  not  become  free  on  enlistment.  They 
should  be  freed,  with  compensation  to  loyal  masters, 
because  of  enlistment.  The  families  of  slaves,  how 
ever,  should  not  be  liberated  by  the  slaves'  enlistment; 
partly  because  this  would  be  unjust  to  masters,  partly 
because  it  interfered  with  State's  rights,  and  partly 
because  the  demoralization  caused  by  slavery  had  made 
it  impossible  to  find  the  families  in  many  cases. 

He  insisted  on  Maryland's  loyalty  and  was  quick 
to  protest  against  any  high-handed  acts  of  the  Federal 
government  in  that  State.  He  insisted  that  the  Rebel 
lion  was  to  be  put  down  not  under  the  war  power,  which 
referred  to  foreign  relations,  but  under  that  to  suppress 
insurrection.  It  was  true  that,  from  the  great  extent 
of  insurrection,  it  had  become  necessary  to  concede 
privileges  of  belligerency  to  the  Confederates  and  it 
was  questionable  as  to  whether  this  concession  did  not 
take  away  the  right  to  punish  them  for  high  treason, 
to  the  penalties  of  which  crime  they  would  otherwise 
have  been  liable.  When  the  insurrection  is  put  down, 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  63 

the  power  to  suppress  it  is  at  an  end.  The  States  have 
never  been  out  of  the  Union  and,  consequently,  need 
not  to  be  brought  back.  At  the  conclusion  of  a  civil 
war,  amnesty  should  be  given,  and  the  States  should 
be  encouraged  to  reestablish  their  governments  as  soon 
as  possible,  on  the  basis  of  present,  not  of  past,  loyalty 
to  the  United  States.  By  these  new  governments  repre 
sentatives  to  Congress  should  be  chosen,  to  be  accepted 
or  rejected,  according  to  their  individual  qualifications, 
and  not  because  they  come  from  States  whose  citizens 
have  lately  been  in  rebellion.  If  the  South  is  willing 
to  return,  the  mass  of  the  people  must  be  pardoned; 
for,  if  all  are  punished,  no  inhabitants  would  be  left 
but  the  former  slaves.  Though  he  thought  the  war 
should  be  ended,  when  the  South  was  willing  to  submit,  he 
was  willing  to  destroy  slavery  by  constitutional  change. 
He  voted  for  the  Thirteenth  Amendment,  and  said: 
"I  thank  God,  as  a  compensation  for  the  blood,  the 
treasure  and  agony,  which  have  been  brought  into  our 
households,"  the  war  "has  stricken,  now  and  forever, 
this  institution  from  its  place  among  our  States."  Elaine 
wrote1  that  Johnson,  who  "had  long  been  eminent  at 
the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court"  and  who  "had  stood 
firmly  by  the  Union  ....  added  largely  to 
the  ability  and  learning"  of  the  Senate. 

We  find  scattered  references  to  Johnson  during  1863. 
Thus,  on  July  4,  he  wrote  Dr.  W.  H.  Hammond  about 
improving  conditions  at  Fort  Delaware,  where  a  number 
of  prisoners  were  confined,2  and,  on  October  22,  he  weni 
with  Governor  Bradford  to  confer  with  Lincoln  on  Mary 
land  matters.3  The  Federal  administration  interfered 

1 1    Twenty  years  in  Congress,  502. 
•  Series  2,  Off.  Recs.,  Vol.  6,  p.  80. 
1  Series  3,  Off.  Recs.,  Vol.  3,  p.  967. 


64  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

considerably  in  the  Congressional  elections  held  that 
year  in  Maryland  and  from  Washington,  on  November 
23,  Johnson  sent  Bradford  an  opinion  that  he  must 
proclaim  those  as  Members  of  Congress,  who  were 
elected  on  the  face  of  the  returns,  as  the  proclamation 
was  a  ministerial  function  and  the  Governor  had  no 
corrective  power,  although  the  election  had  been  "not 
by  the  free  choice,  but  under  the  duress  of  military 
violence  and  in  the  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  and 
honor  of  a  loyal  State."4  This  interference  in  Maryland 
elections  may  well  have  contributed  to  Johnson's  break 
ing  with  Lincoln,  soon  after  the  session  of  Congress 
began.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1864,  Johnson 
supported  McClellan  with  zeal  and,  in  his  behalf,  de 
livered  a  stirring  address  in  Brooklyn  on  October  21,* 
in  which  speech,  while  professing  as  much  abhorrence 
as  ever  for  the  claim  of  the  right  to  secede,  he  eloquently 
stated  that  Lincoln's  war  policy  had  been  a  failure. 
The  question  was  whether  liberty  was  to  survive  and 
the  nation  to  be  restored  with  the  preservation  of  our 
form  of  constitutional  government.  The  "rebellion,  in 
the  beginning,  was  without  justification  or  excuse  and 
Lincoln's  policy  was  right,  until  he  issued  the  emanci 
pation  proclamation.  "Military  necessity"  was  a  dan 
gerous  plea,  which  had  led  to  "shameless  interference" 
with  elections  in  Maryland  and  Kentucky.  "No  one 
dislikes  slavery  more  than  I  do,"  he  continued,  but 
although  the  war  had  given  slavery  a  death  blow,  there 
was  no  rightfulness  in  Lincoln's  demand  that  slavery  be 
abolished  as  a  condition  of  peace.  The  army  and  navy 
had  failed,  although  McClellan,  Porter,  Sheridan,  and 
Farragut  had  done  nobly.  Lincoln  had  shown  his  "utter 

4  Md.  Publ.  Docs.  1864. 

5  Speech  before  the  Brooklyn  McClellan  Central  Association,  1864,  pp.  16. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  65 

unfitness  for  the  presidency,"  and  sought  reelection  by 
' '  most  unscrupulous  and  unexampled  abuse  of  patronage 
and  power."  The  Davis- Wade  plan  for  reconstruction 
was  commended  and  attention  was  drawn  to  the  fact 
that  the  Confederate  States  had  failed  to  receive  recog 
nition  by  foreign  powers.  The  "rebel  government," 
Johnson  said,  "still  stands  alone  among  the  family  of 
nations."  "No  single  one,  small  or  great,  will  admit 
it  to  fellowship.  Cotton,  the  rebels  find,  is  not  king. 
Nor  in  this  age  of  the  world  can  mere  material  wealth 
ever  be  king."6 

In  1864,  a  Constitutional  Convention  was  held  in 
Maryland  and  a  constitution  abolishing  slavery  was 
submitted  for  ratification  to  the  people.  The  Conven 
tion  prescribed  an  oath  of  loyalty  to  be  taken  by  all 
voters  and  Johnson  gave  an  opinion,  on  October  7,  that 
this  requirement  was  unconstitutional  and  that  the 
Convention  had  usurped  powers,  but  there  was  no 
remedy,  and  that  the  people  who  can  do  so  may  take 
the  oath  and  vote  upon  the  Constitution,  which  after 
the  election  was  declared  adopted  by  a  small  majority.7 
In  the  Senate,  on  December  18,  1863,  Johnson  had  ob 
jected  to  a  similar  oath,  as  prescribed  for  officers  of  the 
United  States,  and,  in  the  debate  upon  that  oath,  he 
developed  an  elaborate  argument  in  defense  of  the  prop- 
osition  that  Members  of  Congress  are  not  officers. 

Johnson's  first  appearance  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 
occurred  on  the  day  previous.  John  P.  Hale  had  risen 

6  It  is  interesting  to  see  among  the  lesser  activities  of  Johnson  during  this 
year,  the  receipt  in  April  of  a  fee  of  $1,000  to  get  Maddox,  a  blockade  runner, 
clear.     Series  i,  Off.  Recs.,  vol.  60,  p.  33.    On  March  10,  Series  i,  Off.  Recs. 
vol.  43,  pp.  27,  122,  Johnson  showed  his  friendliness  to  Meade  in  writing  to 
ask  the  latter,  if  Johnson  was  not  right  in  denying  certain  allegations  as  to 
Meade's  conduct  at  Gettysburg. 

7  Opinion,  etc.,  1864,  pp.  6. 


66  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

to  a  question  of  privilege,  having  been  attacked  by  a 
newspaper  for  receiving  a  fee  for  getting  a  client  out 
of  the  old  Capitol  prison,  and  said  that,  before  he  kept 
the  money,  having  an  ''exceeding  jealousy"  of  his  repu 
tation  as  a  Senator,  he  went  for  advice  to  Johnson,  who 
held  a  "very  high  social  position  and  a  high  professional 
position."  Johnson  had  said  there  was  "not  the  least 
objection  in  the  world"  and  added  that,  "as  to  this 
matter  you  are  asking  me  about,  I  am  doing  it  every 
week."  Johnson  then  rose  to  corroborate  Hale's  state 
ment  and  said  that  there  was  no  more  reason  for  a 
member  of  either  House  of  Congress  to  avoid  appearing 
in  military  cases  than  in  those  before  ordinary  criminal 
courts.8 

On  the  question  of  taking  an  oath,  Johnson  spoke  thrice. 
Senator  Bayard  of  Delaware  had  refused  to  take  it  and 
Johnson  argued  that  it  was  unnecessary  for  him  to  do 
so.  On  January  2,  Johnson  said  that  he  had  taken  the 
oath  under  protest,  because  he  was  unwilling  to  have 
it  conjectured,  on  any  ground,  however  feeble,  "that  I 
was  not  loyal  as  he  must  be  who  takes  that  oath." 
The  oath  was  also  bad  since  it  was  provided  in  an  ex  post 
facto  law  and  since  it  disqualified  a  man  from  office  with 
out  conviction  of  crime.  In  the  debate,  Johnson  dis 
cussed  the  theories  of  war  and  of  reconstruction.  He  held 
that  Sumner's  argument  was  "not  only  unconstitutional 
but  most  mischievous,"  in  holding  that  the  war,  "which 
is  now  covering  the  land  with  blood  in  one  section  and 
carrying  agony  in  another,  has  dissolved  perpetually 
the  ties  which  bound  us  of  the  loyal  States  to  the  States 
in  rebellion,"  so  that  the  latter  are  "out  of  the  Union 
as  States"  and  are  "territory,  subject  to  the  unlimited 

1  On  February  10,  1864,  he  spoke  again  on  this  subject  and  stated,  as  he  had 
previously,  that  he  was  willing  to  plead  without  fee. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  67 

will  of  Congress  and  to  come  back  only  at  such  time 
and  upon  such  terms"  as  Congress  may  fix.9  The  war 
was  waged  "to  restore  the  authority  of  the  Government" 
and  "the  end  is  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion."  When 
this  is  accomplished,  the  war  power  is  at  an  end  and  the 
submission  of  the  people  of  a  State  brings  her  back  into 
the  Union.  The  powers  of  the  government  are  "exerted 
not  as  against  States,  but  as  against  citizens."  "There 
is  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  in  the  South,  who  has 
not  fallen  into  the  vortex  of  this  rebellion.  Some  men 
of  hardy  character,  stubborn  virtue,  inflexible  firmness, 
a  loyalty  that  quailed  before  nothing,  have  been  able 
to  drag  out  a  miserable  existence,  cheered  only  by  the 
consciousness  that  they  were  doing  right  under  the 
oppression  and  outrages  to  which  they  have  been  sub 
jected  in  the  rebel  States;"  but,  "for  the  most  part, 
firmness  has  yielded,  association  has  had  its  influence. 
You  must  not  exile,  exterminate,  or  enslave  the  men 
who  submit."10  He  had  confidence  in  the  speedy  close 
of  the  war  and  that  "there  will  arise,  in  all  its  original 
power,  that  love  of  the  Union,  that  reverence  for  our 
forefathers,  that  pride  in  our  common  glory,  that  desire 
to  share  in  the  achievements,  which  we  have  won  to 
gether  in  the  past,  to  bring  them  back  again  to  act  with 
us  as  brethren,  brethren  in  heart  as  well  as  in  deed." 

On  January  25,  in  his  third  speech  on  the  subject, 
Johnson11  again  maintained  that  a  Senator  was  not  a 

9  He  denied  that  the  Prize  Cases  were  authority  against  him.    The  Supreme 
Court  there  really  said  that  the  property  was  an  enemy's  and  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  traitor,  "because  he  owed  allegiance  to  the  United  States,"  was  no 
defence. 

10  Johnson  added  that  "I  have  thought  slavery  wrong,  since  I  was  capable 
of  thinking,"  and  immoral,  shocking  "the  heart  of  every  freeman,  which  beats 
true  to  the  inspiration  of  the  goddess  of  liberty." 

11  At  this  time,  he  read  Sumner  a  delicious  lecture  on  the  "  very  positive  way" 
in  which  he  expressed  his  opinions. 


68  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

civil  officer.  He  is  "not  an  officer  under  the  govern 
ment,  but  above  the  government.  He  does  not  derive 
his  authority  from  the  government,  but  from  the  crea 
tors  of  the  government.  His  commission  comes  from 
his  State.12  We  should  look  at  the  matter  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  country,  but  should  not  let  our 
patriotism  run  wild.  The  act  of  1862,  providing  the 
oath  of  which  Johnson  complained,  does  not  include 
State  legislatures,  and  judges  and  no  oath  can  be  forced 
on  them,  yet  without  it,  what  security  is  there  against 
another  rebellion?  This  should  not  be  a  war  of  subju 
gation.  Johnson  was  willing  to  go  as  far  as  was  neces 
sary  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  but  only  in  a  constitu 
tional  way.  He  favored  restoration.  "If  the  South  is 
willing  to  return — I  do  not  mean  the  leaders,  if  captured, 
they  should  be  tried  and  convicted  and  execution  should 
follow  to  a  large  extent,  but  you  cannot  try  and  con 
vict  four  or  five  or  six  million  people,"  and,  if  you  could, 
you  would  have  only  the  slaves  left  in  the  South.13 

A  resolution  had  been  introduced  for  the  expulsion 
of  another  Border  State  Senator,  Garrett  Davis  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  Johnson  came  to  his  defense  also.14  Davis 
had  introduced  resolutions  on  January  5,  censuring  the 
president.  On  January  26,  Johnson  denied  that  the 
resolutions  were  treasonable  and  said  he  wished  neither 
to  offend  Kentucky,  nor  limit  the  right  to  criticise  the 
conduct  of  the  executive.  He  referred  to  famous  past 
opponents  of  administration,  both  in  England  and  in 
America,  such  as  Burke,  who  rejoiced  that  the  colonists 
resisted.  In  a  remarkably  strong  speech,  he  defended 

12  He  referred  to  the  Blount  Case  on  January  21,  he  referred  also  to  the  case 
of  Smith  in  Burr's  time. 

13  On  March  14,  he  spoke  on  the  power  to  require  an  oath  of  loyalty  from 
citizens  who  transferred  property  and  said  this  was  often  done  in  Louisiana 
to  avoid  confiscation. 

14  On  January  u,  he  spoke  in  favor  of  prompt  action  in  the  matter. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  69 

Davis,  who  had  been  for  years  an  opponent  of  the 
extension  of  slave  territory  and  had  gone  with  his 
nephews  a  hundred  miles  to  beat  back  the  rebel  invaders 
of  Kentucky.  Johnson  would  not  vote  for  the  resolves, 
but  held  their  criticism  of  the  President  not  more  cen 
surable  than  that  indulged  in  by  such  a  New  England 
senator  as  Hale.15  Johnson  felt  that  the  administration 
was  justly  censurable  for  making  the  Southern  people 
desperate.  "  In  my  judgment,  the  ultra  measures,  which 
now  seem  to  be  the  favorite  measures  of  the  govern 
ment,  that  is  to  say  the  measures  of  destroying  slavery 
in  the  States,  of  enforcing  the  confiscation  laws,  of  dis 
tributing  the  lands  among  the  loyal  soldiers,  or  among 
blacks,  do  more  to  keep  alive  the  rebellion,  than  any 
one  cause  or  perhaps  all  causes  combined."  On  Janu 
ary  28,  he  spoke  again  on  the  subject  and  claimed  the 
liberty  to  denounce  the  executive  in  the  strongest  terms, 
if  necessary.  On  that  day,  through  the  vigorous  oppo 
sition  of  Davis' s  friends,  the  resolution  of  expulsion  was 
withdrawn.16 

The  enrollment  bill  took  much  of  Johnson's  thought 
during  January,17  and  the  enlistment  of  negroes  was  dis 
cussed  by  him  in  a  speech  delivered  on  the  twelfth  and 
fourteenth.  Free  negroes  were  already  enrolled  in  Mary 
land  and  slaves,  as  "persons,"  might  be  enrolled,18  but 
as  they  were  also  "property"  their  masters  should  be 

15  Johnson  referred  to  his  own  support  of  Lincoln  in  1861  and  claimed  that 
Luther  v.  Borden  had  shown  that  treason  can  be  committed  against  a  State 
and,  therefore,  that  the  President  could  even  commit  treason  against  Kentucky! 

16  Davis  attacked  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  on  February  1 7  and  Johnson 
poured  oil  on  the  troubled  waters,  calling  to  mind  Wilson's  previous  attack 
on  Davis. 

17  On  January  7,  he  suggested  the  requirement  of  a  month  or  more  of  resi 
dence  and  spoke  of  the  difficulty  as  to  sailors  plying  between  two  States. 

18  They  could  be  tried  for  treason,  if  they  had  done  "as  the  white  men  in 
the  Southern  States  have  done — I  do  not  mean  all  the  Southern  States — 
thank  God,  I  am  not  obliged  to  say  so." 


7O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

paid  for  their  services.  In  Maryland,  the  enlisting 
officer  tells  all  slaves  they  are  free  and  enlists  all  he 
can  of  them.  Johnson  protests  against  such  conduct, 
although,  he  adds,  "that  the  State  will  be  benefitted 
by  the  effect  of  it  in  the  end,  I  have  no  doubt."  If 
necessary19  he  does  not  object  to  calling  on  slaves  to 
assist  in  putting  down  the  rebellion,  which  had  become 
so  much  more  formidable  than  at  first  was  thought, 
and  which  "proper  exertion,  proper  skill  in  the  field, 
proper  foresight  on  the  part  of  the  Executive,  proper 
legislation  on  the  part  of  Congress,  would  have  quelled 
previous  to  this  time."  He  wished  the  white  men  alone 
had  done  the  work  of  conquest,  and  believed  that  the 
South  had  done  its  utmost  and  that  we  need  no  longer 
to  raise  more  men.  Johnson  thought  that  he  had  better 
information  than  most  persons  at  the  North  and  that 
Louisiana  and  Mississippi  were  "utterly  exhausted  in 
everything  but  zeal  and  intrepidity  of  a  portion  of 
their  population."  The  deluded  masses  of  the  South 
erners  will  continue  to  fight,  while  nature  survives,  but 
Lincoln's  recent  proclamation,  though  far  from  such  as 
would  be  proper,  is  already  doing  a  great  deal  to  restore 
union  feeling.  The  speech  ended  with  a  panegyric  on 
the  Union  and  a  hope  that  the  Southerners  may  return 
to  the  Union  and  "restore  their  States,  by  means  of 
free  labor,  to  a  State  of  prosperity  and  power  that  they 
never  in  the  past  attained."20  Henry  Wilson  said  in 
the  debate,  that  the  Maryland  elections  had  been  car 
ried  on  the  issue  of  the  enlistment  of  slaves  and  that  the 
people  had  preferred  that  the  blacks  should  go  rather 
than  themselves.  Johnson  came  at  once  to  the  defence 

"With  his  jealousy  for  Congress'  power,  he  states  that  of  the  necessity 
"Congress  must  judge  in  the  first  instance  and  the  Executive  afterward." 
10  On  the  i  sth  Johnson  spoke  on  certain  of  the  details  of  the  enrollment  bin. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  71 

of  the  State  and,  on  the  sixteenth,  said  that,  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  many  thought  that  the  national  govern 
ment  had  no  right  to  enlist  blacks  and  that  they  would 
be  ineffective  compared  with  white  troops.  Johnson 
agreed  with  the  latter  contention,  though  he  believed 
negroes  could  become  good  soldiers  after  a  year  or  two  of 
training.  He  maintained  that  the  result  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  election  was  due  to  the  interference  of  the  mili 
tary,  without  proper  authority,  to  prevent  any  one  from 
voting,  unless  he  took  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  mili 
tary  commander,  and  to  arrest  any  one  whom  they 
thought  to  be  disloyal.  Some  men  were  arrested  miles 
from  the  polls.  Men  of  "stern  and  rigid  loyalty"  were 
arrested,  because  they  were  obnoxious  through  their 
opposition  to  immediate  emancipation  without  com 
pensation  to  masters,  and  were  thrown  into  the  old 
slave  prison  in  Baltimore.  When  discharged,  they  were 
returned  to  Chestertown  by  a  steamer,  which  also  bore 
a  private  letter  directing  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
troops  there,  who  had  gone  to  repeat  the  outrage  else 
where,  to  release  two  of  the  men  and  detain  the  rest 
until  after  the  election.  As  a  result,  Creswell,  whom 
Johnson  respected,  was  elected  and  owed  his  seat  in 
the  House  to  "as  great  an  outrage  as  ever  was  perpe 
trated  upon  freemen."  Harlan  of  Iowa  defended  the 
acts  of  the  military  and  said  that,  within  the  last  three 
years,  the  Federal  Government  had  one  hundred  thou 
sand  men  in  arms  to  protect  Maryland,  since  she  was 
unable  to  protect  the  purity  of  her  elections  and  the 
civil  rights  of  her  own  people.  Johnson  denied  the 
truth  of  this  and  asserted  that  the  "ultra  loyal"  Mary 
land  legislature  was  as  devoted  to  the  Union  as  that  of 
Iowa  and  that  the  Iowa  troops  were  not  superior  to 
Mary  landers.  In  April,  1861,  Baltimore  was  "crazy" 


72  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

with  "a  sudden  outbreak,  not  premeditated  at  all,  con 
fined  to  a  very  few.  Every  city  has  a  combustible 
population  and,  whenever  any  particular  cause  of  ex 
citement  is  started,  a  few  wicked  men  can  get  up  a 
mob,"  but  " there  is  not  now  within  the  limits  of  this 
great  land,  a  State  in  which  loyalty  beats  stronger  or 
more  universally  than  it  beats  within  the  hearts  of  the 
sons  of  Maryland,21  and,  if  the  time  shall  come  when  it 
shall  become  necessary  to  call  to  the  aid  of  the  United 
States  every  man  within  her  limits,  to  save  the  Republic, 
there  is  not  one  of  them  who  will  be  permitted  to  remain 
in  her  borders  who  hesitates  for  a  moment  to  come  to 
the  standard  of  the  United  States."  Johnson  opposed 
the  raising  of  men  for  a  hundred  days,  but  was  earnest 
in  desiring  to  attain  the  "  object  which  we  all  have  so 
much  at  heart,  the  driving  of  the  rebel  authorities  from 
Richmond." 

On  January  28,  he  voted  in  favor  of  freeing  slaves 
when  enrolled,  but  expressed  himself  as  opposed  to  free 
ing  the  mother,  wife,  or  children  of  soldiers  without 
compensation,  as  to  do  so  would  interfere  with  State's 
rights,  it  having  always  been  conceded  until  1861  that 
slavery  was  a  State  institution.  A  sense  of  justice 
should  require  that  these  slaves  be  paid  for,  as  had  been 
done  for  slaves  when  freed  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Otherwise,  Maryland  will  suffer  and,  "whatever  dis 
affection  there  may  be  among  certain  citizens  of  Mary 
land,"  the  State  has,  "from  the  first  of  this  rebellion, 
been  true  to  her  constitutional  duty.  Her  laws  have 
never  been  silent,"  nor  has  the  conduct  of  her  officers 
been  "other  than  that  of  perfect  loyalty."  Her  institu- 

21  On  April  4,  Johnson  stated  that  General  Lew  Wallace  would  probably  not 
interfere  in  the  elections  in  Maryland,  having  received  satisfactory  assurances 
from  Governor  Bradford. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  73 

tions  should  not  be  interfered  with,  more  than  those  of 
other  States.  "We  have  thought,  we  are  about  to 
change  our  opinion  as  I  think,  that  it  was  very  mate 
rial  to  the  industry  of  Maryland  that  she  should  have 
the  right  to  have  compulsory  labor."  The  United  States 
may  interfere  with  this  institution,  only  on  the  ground 
of  " military  necessity,"  since  "the  armies  of  the  rebels 
will  continue  to  be  supported,"  if  "this  labor  is  left 
undisturbed."  So  this  compulsory  labor  has  been  de 
clared  to  be  at  an  end  in  the  rebellious  States.  Johnson 
never  apologized  for  slavery,  though  many  yet  believed 
the  institution  to  be  of  divine  origin,  but  said,  "I  doubt 
very  much  if  any  member  of  the  Senate  is  more  anxious 
to  have  the  country  composed  entirely  of  free  men  and 
women  than  I  am."  "There  is  in  every  government," 
he  continued,  "what  may  be  called  a  higher  law  and 
that  exists  .  .  .  to  go  outside  of  the  constitu 

tion  and  adopt  measures  that  may  be  found  to  be  abso 
lutely  necessary  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  Nation. 
If  the  life  of  the  American  people  depends 
upon  the  transcending  any  of  the  particular  powers  of 
the  government,  I  would  transcend  them,"  but  that  is 
not  now  the  case.22  When  Senator  Grimes  of  Iowa  said 
that  he  had  heard  that  slaves  would  not  enlist,  because 
they  feared  to  leave  their  families  in  slavery,  Johnson 
at  once  retorted  that  it  was  necessary  to  go  out  of 
Maryland  to  learn  about  it  and  stated  that  a  "man, 
who  was  able  to  bear  arms  and  whom  the  military 
authority  of  the  United  States  wished  to  bear  arms,  has, 
whether  he  willed  or  not,  been  compelled  to  bear  arms." 
When  Grimes  gave  the  recruiting  officer  in  Maryland 

"Later  in  the  speech  he  said:  "I  would  not  suffer  the  heritage,  which  is 
ours,  to  be  lost  by  insisting  on  a  strict  and  literal  enforcement  of  constitutional 
restriction." 


74  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

as  his  authority,  Johnson  delivered  a  panegyric  upon 
Massachusetts,  but  alleged  that  there  was  more  diffi 
culty  in  getting  men  there  than  in  Maryland,  for  the 
former  State  asked  leave  to  go  out  of  its  borders  and 
get  slaves  to  fill  her  quota.  He  even  challenged  Massa 
chusetts  to  show  as  many  enlistments  of  new  soldiers 
in  the  past  year,  as  the  four  thousand  slaves  enlisted 
in  Maryland  in  that  year. 

It  would  often  be  difficult  to  prove  slave  relationships, 
and  a  slave  enlisted  in  South  Carolina  might  have  a 
wife  and  children  in  Maryland,  for 

it  is  one  of  the  vices  and  the  horrible  vices  of  the  institution, 
one  that  has  shocked  me  from  infancy  to  the  present  hour, 
that  the  whole  marital  relation  is  disregarded.  They  are  made 
to  be,  practically  and  by  education,  forgetful  or  ignorant  of 
that  relation.  When  I  say  they  are  educated,  I  mean  to  say 
they  are  kept  in  absolute  ignorance  and,  out  of  that,  immorality 
of  every  description  arises,  and  among  the  other  immoralities 
is  that  the  connubial  relation  does  not  exist. 

In  some  States,  marriage  was  even  prohibited  to 
slaves  and,  in  Maryland,  it  could  occur  only  with  the 
master's  consent  "They  lived  together,  but  were  never 
man  and  wife,  except  in  the  sight  of  heaven.  You  must 
recognize  as  marriage  what  is  not"  and  thus  violate  the 
Constitution,  for  marriage  is  a  State  controlled  institu 
tion,  or  must  pass  an  ineffective  law. 

Slavery  "must  expire"  when  the  heart  is  "humanized," 
and  in  Maryland  now  no  slave  would  bring  ten  dollars, 
except  as  his  hire;  but  the  destruction  of  the  institution 
came  not  from  the  influence  of  those  Northern  men 
"who  desired  to  do  away  with  it,"  but  from  "retributive 
justice,  which  visited  crime  in  God's  providence."  The 
men  who  were  here,  preaching  treason  from  their  desks 
and  telegraphing  to  their  minions  to  seize  government 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  75 

property,  and  who  tried  to  seduce  military  officers,  they 
have  done  it."  Turning  to  the  Republican  Senators, 
Johnson  told  them  that  the  Southern  leaders 

did  not  believe  you  would  resist.  You  are  free,  and  you  are 
brave  because  you  are  free,  and,  as  I  have  told  them  over 
and  over  again,  let  the  day  come  when,  in  their  madness,  they 
should  throw  down  the  gage  of  battle  to  the  free  States  of  the 
Union  and  the  day  of  their  domestic  institution  will  have 

ended I  thank   God  that,   as  a   compensation 

for  the  blood,  the  treasure,  and  the  agony,  which  have  been 
brought  into  our  households  and  into  yours,  it  has  stricken, 
now  and  forever,  this  institution  from  its  place  among  our 
States. 

Yet23  Johnson  was  careful  not  to  use  harsh  epithets 
concerning  preceding  generations  of  men  and  reminded 
the  Senate  that  Washington  held  slaves  until  his  death. 

The  question  of  the  enlistment  of  slaves  came  up 
again  on  February  14,  when  Johnson  complained,  as 
together  with  Governor  Bradford  he  had  already  done 
to  Lincoln,  that  the  recruiting  officers  in  Maryland  took 
slaves,  without  the  consent  of  or  compensation  to  the 
owners  and  without  draft  or  conscription.  He  believed 
that  the  majority  of  Maryland  slaveholders  would  have 
been  willing  to  let  their  slaves  be  taken,  provided  a 
reasonable  compensation  were  made  and  saw  no  differ 
ence  between  giving  a  bounty  to  a  white  volunteer  or 
to  a  negro's  owner.  On  the  twenty-fifth,  he  spoke  again 
on  the  same  subject  and  took  occasion  to  criticise  the 
waste  and  fraud  of  public  officials,  though  he  was  not 
afraid  of  lack  of  financial  ability  to  win  the  combat,  if 
resources  were  husbanded.  The  Maryland  loyal  slave 
holders 

23  In  speech  on  February  9. 


76  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

are  much  more  wedded  to  the  Union  than  they  are  wedded  to 
any  of  their  local  institutions  and,  especially,  more  than  they 
are  wedded  to  that  particular  institution,  which,  I  now  thank 
God,  as  they  do,  very  many  of  them,  is  about  to  expire  in 
Maryland.24 

When  the  passage  of  an  act  was  urged  by  Andrew  of 
Massachusetts  to  pay  $13,  instead  of  $10  a  month  to 
negro  troops,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  promised 
the  larger  amount,  Johnson  promptly  responded  that  a 
public  agent  may  not  bind  the  government  wrongfully, 
and  that  the  true  question  is  whether  the  soldiers  are 
properly  entitled  to  more.  Certainly,  the  Maryland 
regiments  had  no  such  assurance  and  there  is  no  obliga 
tion  to  give  them  extra  pay.  In  this  debate,  Johnson's 
power  of  repartee  was  clearly  shown,  when  he  stated 
that  he  had  confidence  in  Andrew's  integrity,  though 
"perhaps  he  is  a  little  wild  upon  a  particular  subject." 
Sumner  interrupted  with:  "Wise,  the  Senator  meant," 
and  Johnson  instantly  replied:  "Wild,  I  said.  He  may 
be  a  little  wise.  I  think  he  is  certainly  wild."  Again 
it  was  said  that  Massachusetts  had  offered  to  pay  the 
extra  amount,  but  the  soldiers  insisted  on  taking  it 
from  the  United  States,  Johnson  said,  "They  are  gentle 
men  of  extraordinary  sensibility."  And  when  Grimes 
said  their  officers  persuaded  them,  Johnson  replied: 
"They  are  docile  and  easily  persuaded,  they  believe 
almost  anything." 

On  February  26,  the  bill  allowing  negroes  to  be  em 
ployed  in  mail  service  and  the  testimony  of  colored  men 
to  be  received  in  all  cases  in  the  Federal  courts  came 
up  for  discussion.  Johnson  said  that  he  preferred  "that 

24  On  March  10,  Johnson  said  that  the  enlisted  slave  "had,  as  against  the 
United  States,  a  right  to  freedom,  which  it  would  be  dishonorable"  to  refuse, 
but  that  the  proper  compensation  for  them  to  the  master  was  a  judicial  ques 
tion,  $300  being  not  enough  for  some  slaves  and  too  much  for  others. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  77 

all  questions,  depending  on  human  testimony,  should 
rather  be  questions  of  credibility  than  questions  of  com 
petency,"  and  that  he  had  urged  this  view  upon  the 
Maryland  legislature  in  1862,  but  that  he  objected  to 
slaves  testifying.  "It  is  useless  to  deny  that  there  has 
been  in  Maryland,  and  to  a  certain  extent  there  exists 
now,  a  very  strong  sympathy  with  the  South,"  and  this 
law  will  make  matters  worse,  while  it  will  not  hasten 
the  end  of  the  war.  He  felt  that  the  North's  prosperity 
was  due  chiefly  to  the  absence  of  slavery  there.  The 
utmost  the  law  should  allow  was  that  all  free  men  might 
testify — the  slaves  lacked  the  needful  moral  and  intel 
lectual  education. 

When  it  was  proposed  to  permit  black  men  to  vote 
in  Montana,  Johnson  objected25  that  those  "who  have 
been  slaves  from  infancy  are  not  intelligent  enough  at 
once  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage,"  and  yet  enough 
of  such  men  might  go  to  Montana  to  control  the  terri 
tory.  The  debate  led  to  a  reference  to  the  Dred  Scott 
case  and  Sumner  expressed  the  hope  that  Congress 
would  proceed  without  "respect  to  a  decision,  which 
has  already  disgraced  the  country."26  Johnson  admitted 
that  he  had  always  doubted  whether  the  part  of  the 
decision  as  to  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  Missouri 
compromise  were  not  extrajudicial,  but  took  occasion 
to  praise  Chief  Justice  Taney  and  the  Supreme  Court 
and  to  attack  Sumner  for  conceit.  Johnson  said  that 
Clay  had  told  him,  that  after  Taney  had  been  five 
years  on  the  bench,  he  apologized  to  Taney  for  his 
opposition  to  his  confirmation  and  continued: 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  with  the  present  Chief  Justice 
and  opposed  to  him  while  at  the  bar  and  almost  every  day  for 

*'  On  March  30. 
56  On  March  31. 


78  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

years,  and  for  consummate  ability  in  his  profession,  for  unsullied 
integrity  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  while  he  graced  and  honored 
our  bar,  there  was  no  man  in  the  government  and  no  man  in 
any  government,  acquainted  with  his  character,  who  would 
think  himself  at  all  disparaged  by  having  Taney  considered, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  men  who  knew  him,  his  equal. 

On  April  5,  when  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  was 
under  debate,27  Johnson  discussed  whether  it  was  right 
and  whether  the  consequences  would  be  "such  as  to 
render  it  inexpedient,  because  inhuman  in  other  par 
ticulars,  to  do  what  is  right."  To  manumit  at  once 
nearly  four  million  slaves,  wrho  have  been  in  bondage 
always  and  have  been  kept  in  almost  absolute  igno 
rance,  is  an  event  to  which  the  world's  history  affords 
no  parallel.  The  fathers  of  the  Republic  thought  slav 
ery  sinful  and  evil  and  that  it  would,  at  sometime,  come 
to  an  end,  but  that  the  union  could  not  be  formed  with 
out  recognizing  it. 

I  am  satisfied  and  have  always  been  that,  sooner  or  later, 
the  present  condition  was  inevitable. 

I  never  doubted  that  the  day  must  come,  when  human  slavery 
would  be  terminated  by  a  conclusive  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
bondsmen,  unless  that  other  and  better  reason  and  influence 
which  might  bring  it  about  should  be  successful — the  mild, 
though  powerful,  influences  of  that  higher  and  elevated  morality 
which  the  Christian  religion  teaches. 

He  agreed  with  Jefferson,  that,  in  a  contest  between 
slave  and  master,  the  God  of  justice  could  not  help  the 

27  White's  Life  of  Lyman  Trumbull,  at  page  227,  states  that  "the  most  im 
pressive  speech  made  in  either  branch  of  Congress  was  that  of  Senator  Reverdy 
Johnson  of  Maryland.  The  fact  that  he  represented  a  slave  holding  State 
could  not  fail  to  add  force  to  any  argument  he  might  make  in  support  of  the 
measure,  but  the  argument  itself,  both  in  its  moral  and  its  legal  aspects,  was  of 
surpassing  merit.  It  deserves  a  high  place  in  the  annals  of  senatorial  eloquence." 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  79 

latter.  "A  prosperous  and  permanent  peace  can  never 
be  secured,  if  the  institution  is  permitted  to  survive," 
yet  it  can  only  be  destroyed  by  constitutional  amend 
ment.  The  doctrine  of  the  Prize  Cases  did  not  termi 
nate  civil  obligations  and  Lincoln  can  not  free  the 
slaves  of  the  enemy,  where  he  has  not  physical  power 
to  attain  that  result.  The  Southerners  are  "both  rebels 
and  enemies,"  though  many  Union  men  in  the  South 
only  obey  de  facto  governments.  The  proclamation  of 
amnesty,  requiring  that  those  who  accepted  it  should 
also  accept  the  emancipation  proclamation,  only  affected 
persons  within  the  Union  lines  antecedently  to  the  proc 
lamation,  and  it  would  be  futile  to  pass  a  law  freeing 
slaves  within  the  enemies'  lines,  even  though  Congress 
possessed  the  war  power,  under  which  J.  Q.  Adams  in 
1836  thought  slavery  might  be  abolished.  Slaves  com 
ing  to  the  Union  lines  may  be  made  free  by  the  emanci 
pation  proclamation,  but  the  courts  will  not  hold  others 
to  be  free.  The  Constitution  gives  no  authority  for 
national  intervention  with  slavery  in  a  State  at  peace, 
so  that  slaves  may  continue  to  exist  in  Maryland.  Yet 
the  Nation  ought  to  terminate  "that  institution  which 
deals  with  humanity  as  property,  which  claims  to  shackle 
the  mind,  the  soul,  and  the  body,  which  brings  to  the 
level  of  the  brute,  a  portion  of  the  race  of  men.  Slavery 
is  not  of  divine  origin  and  the  negroes,  who  long  for 
freedom,  have  been  kept  in  ignorance,  because,  if  they 
had  knowledge,  "they  would  be  free  men  or  die  in  the 
attempt."  Johnson  once  believed  that  slavery  and  free 
government  might  go  on  for  ages  and  abolition  would 
be  peaceful ;  but  now,  owing  to  "misjudging  philanthropy 
in  one  section  and  to  a  traitorous  purpose  in  another, 
that  time,  in  my  view,  is  passed,  and  we  must  terminate 
slavery.  When  that  is  done  the  wit  of  man  will,  as  I 


8O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

think,  be  unable  to  devise  any  other  topic  upon  which 
we  can  be  involved  in  a  fraternal  strife." 

In  this  speech,  he  discussed  the  question  of  sover 
eignty  and  said  that  "there  never  was  a  greater  political 
heresy"  than  Calhoun's,  in  saying  "that  the  only  sover 
eignty  was  that  which  belonged  to  the  States." 

The  States,  in  the  first  place,  were  never  disunited.  As  one 
they  declared  independence.  As  one,  they  fought  and  con 
quered  the  independence  so  declared.  As  one.  in  order  to  make 
that  independence  fruitful  of  all  the  blessings  which  they  antici 
pated  from  it,  they  made  the  Constitution  of  the  United 

States There  was  no  absolute  sovereignty,  that 

is  to  say  there  was  no  sovereignty  coextensive  with  the  whole 
scope  of  political  power,  belonging  to  the  government  of  either, 
but  each  was  invested  with  a  portion  of  the  sovereignty,  which 
the  people  might  create,  and  each,  therefore,  within  the  extent 
of  the  portion  allowed  it,  was  to  the  extent  of  that  portion 
supreme. 

The  Union  is  irrevocable,  except  when  "that  other  and 
paramount  right,  never  recognized  by  constitutions  of 
government,  comes  into  existence  ....  the 
right  of  revolution." 

Somewhat  later,  on  April  19,  he  opposed  the  repeal  of 
the  fugitive  slave  act  of  1793,  whose  rightfulness  no 
one  doubted  at  its  passage  and  whose  constitutionality 
the  courts  maintained.  The  act  of  1850,  though  con 
stitutional,  was  objectionable  and  may  be  repealed,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Constitution  itself  is 
a  fugitive  slave  act  and  the  practical  effect  of  the  repeal 
of  the  law  of  1793  "may  create  unpleasant  feeling  in 
that  part  of  the  South  which  is  sectionally  loyal,  and 
among  many  in  that  part  of  the  South  who,  though 
sectionally  disloyal,  are  themselves  loyal."  Sumner 
entered  into  an  argument  with  him  and  said  the  cleca- 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  8 1 

logue  abolished  slavery.  "Then  leave  the  question  to 
the  courts,"  Johnson  replied, and  taunted  Massachusetts 
with  her  position  in  1812  and  with  suffering  her  "love 
of  freedom  to  boil  over."  She  thus  "enabled  these 
traitors  to  fan  into  treason  the  public  mind  of  the  South." 
Johnson  desired  the  destruction  of  slavery  by  constitu 
tional  amendment,  and  urged  united  action  to  "put 
down  this  vile,  wicked,  and  wholly  unjustifiable  rebel 
lion."28  On  June  24,  when  discussing  Sumner's  bill  to 
prohibit  the  coastwise  interstate  slave  trade,  Johnson 
urged  the  propriety  of  the  act  under  the  commercial 
power  of  Congress.29  A  day  later  he  denied  that  the 
two  races  cannot  live  together,  as  the  free  blacks  did 
with  whites  in  the  past,  to  satisfy  demands  for  labor. 
Though  social  and  political  equality,  as  the  history  of 
the  North  shows  is  impossible,  freedmen  can  and  do 
live  in  peace  with  their  former  masters  and  the  laws 
requiring  emancipated  slaves  to  leave  some  States  are 
recent. 

Although  Johnson  had  come  to  be  an  opponent  of 
Lincoln,30  yet  he  was  tenacious  for  the  preservation  of 

28  On  June  22,  Johnson  and  Sumner  again  came  into  conflict  over  this  bill, 
when  the  former  moved  a  postponement,  to  let  Davis,  who  was  ill,  be  heard 
upon  it.     Sumner  urged  going  on  to  perfect  the  bill,  which  Johnson  remarked, 
being  merely  a  repealing  act,  was  already  perfect. 

29  Collamer,  in  this  discussion,  got  the  better  of  Johnson  in  a  neat  repartee. 
The  former  stated  that  the  courts  had  said  that  a  man  could  import  and  sell 
goods,  in  spite  of  any  State  law.     When  Johnson  replied  that  the  decision 
referred  to  goods  in  the  original  package,  Collamer  reported:  "Well,  I  take  it, 
that  is  the  way  negroes  are  generally  sold."     In  the  same  discussion,  Johnson 
and  Sumner  had  another  sparring  match,  in  which  the  latter  said  that  Johnson 
is  always  "willing  to  interpret  the  constitution  for  slavery.     I  interpret  for 
freedom."     Johnson  shortly  afterwards  said   that  the  word  person  included 
slaves,  as  is  conceded  by  every  lawyer,  unless  Sumner  "  claims  to  be  one,  after 
having  been  out  of  practice  more  years  that  I  should  dare  to  mention." 

30  For  example  on  June  25,  he  said  Lincoln  had  "seduced"  Congress  to 
appoint  a  commissioner  of  navigation. 


82  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

the  President's  powers  and,  when  the  bill  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  lieutenant-general  was  under  discussion,  ex 
pressed  doubts  as  to  whether  the  bill  did  not  go  too  far 
and  deprive  the  President  of  his  power  to  remove  the 
officer  and  wished  Grant's  name,  which  had  been  rec 
ommended  in  the  bill,  stricken  out,  as  it  was  a  bad 
precedent.  He  praised  Grant  and  thought  Lincoln, 
though  he  had  done  his  best,  yet  had  been  largely  re 
sponsible  for  the  errors  of  other  officers  through  his 
interference.  It  was  no  disparagement  of  Grant  to 
remove  his  name  and  the  clause  of  recommendation, 
which  had  no  legal  operation,  may  put  the  President 
and  the  Senate  at  loggerheads.  If  Grant  is  so  excel 
lent,  the  President  cannot  help  appointing  him  and  the 
recommendation  really  disparages  Grant,  by  suggesting 
that  another  might  be  appointed.  In  a  later  speech31 
Johnson  said  the  bill  was  also  a  reflection  on  General 
Halleck,  whom  Johnson  knew  intimately  and  in  whose 
society  he  had  spent  months.  After  talking  over  with 
Halleck  all  the  subjects  connected  with  the  war  and 
visiting  his  office  daily,  he  felt  in  agreement  with  Gen 
eral  Scott  that  Halleck  was  "as  fit,  if  not  more  fit,  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  the  place  that  he  holds  than  any 
other  man."52  On  March  2,  Johnson  defended  McClellan 
and  Meade  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  had 
twice  saved  Washington,  and  said  that  assaults  on  officers 
"are  exceedingly  inappropriate  and  impolitic,"  though, 
in  the  same  speech,  he  censured  Lincoln  and  criticised 
mildly  Hooker  and  Burnside.33 

81  On  February  24. 

32  Johnson  admitted  that  Halleck  was  no  Chesterfieldian,  but  claimed  that 
the  failures  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  body  he  praised,  were  due  to 
others,  more  than  to  Halleck. 

33  On  Union  military  matters,  we  find  Johnson,  on  May  2,  objecting  to  the 
payment  of  the  hundred  days  Western  volunteers,  on  the  ground  that  the 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  83 

Over  a  month  later,  in  speaking  on  the  Fort  Pillow 
massacre,34  Johnson  asked  why  no  reinforcements  had 
been  sent  thither. 

We  feel  indignant  at  this  Vandalic  outrage,  which  never 
could  have  been  perpetrated,  I  think,  in  this  age  of  the  world, 
even  by  cannibals,  with  more  ferocity  than  is  stated  to  have 

attended  this  particular  outrage There  is  now 

in  part  of  this  rebel  soldiery  ....  who  have  been 
frenzied  into  madness  and  become  worse  than  savages,  a  dis 
position  which  has  none  of  the  restraints  of  civilized  warfare 
and  it  is  time,  high  time,  since  the  United  States  in  my  judg 
ment,  in  the  exercise  of  a  power  with  which  they  are  clearly 
invested,  have  thought  proper  to  enlist  into  their  army  Africans, 
that  these  rebellious  foes  of  ours  should  learn  that,  upon  the 
field  of  battle,  in  the  eye  of  justice  and  in  the  opinion  of  the 
United  States,  the  life  of  a  soldier  under  our  flag  is  as  dear  as 
the  life  of  any  rebel  and  that  nothing  will  satisfy  the  honor  of 
the  one  and  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  other,  if  the  horrid 
alternative  should  be  left  to  us,  but  life  for  life.  It  will  never 
do  that  we  should  suffer  our  soldiers  to  be  treated  with  the 
barbarity,  the  inhumanity,  the  savage  barbarity  with  which 
it  is  said  they  have  been  treated  upon  this  occasion. 

On  May  21,  Johnson  showed  his  tenderness  of  heart, 
by  moving  an  executive  session,  so  that  a  mortally 

President  had  not  bound  Congress  by  calling  them  out  and  that,  if  the  period 
counts  from  enlistment,  not  from  muster,  the  government  got  but  little  good 
from  them.  On  the  next  day,  in  reference  to  the  same  bill,  he  said  a  motion 
to  reconsider  it,  made  within  two  days  of  its  passage,  will  keep  it  from  being 
sent  to  the  Executive.  In  reference  to  the  cases  of  Generals  Schenck  and 
Blair,  he  said,  on  May  16,  that  the  unbroken  precedent  of  both  army  and 
navy  was  to  cancel  resignations  and  consider  officers  to  be  in  the  service  again, 
if  the  officers  and  the  President  so  desired.  Johnson  instanced  the  case  of 
Captain  Buchanan  (then  Admiral  Buchanan  in  the  Confederate  navy)  with 
whom  Johnson  "had  been  very  intimate"  and  of  whom  "he  had  a  very  high 
opinion,"  who  resigned  the  command  of  the  Navy  Yard  at  Washington  and 
was  later  reinstated  therein. 
'  34  On  April  16. 


84  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

wounded  officer  who  had  been  promoted,  might  be  con 
firmed  before  he  died.  On  June  8,  he  objected  to  allow 
ing  commutation  for  men  drafted  into  the  army  although 
he  stated  that  he  was  willing  to  vote  to  enlarge  the 
amount  from  $300  to  $500  or  $600. 

He  felt35  that  it  was  perilous  to  keep  men  so  long  a 
time  as  three  years  in  the  service,  as  they  get  attached 
to  it  and  unfit  for  all  else  and  yet  there  was  no  author 
ity  by  law,  in  Johnson's  opinion,  to  call  out  troops  for 
a  less  period.  Raw  men  seemed  to  him  practically  as 
brave  as  veterans  and,  if  the  power  is  properly  wielded 
by  Grant,  as  is  probable,  and  the  rebellion  is  terminated 
at  all,  it  will  end  in  one  or  two  years,  so  a  draft  for 
three  years  is  too  long. 

Johnson  also  opposed36  compelling  Indians  to  enlist, 
as  they  had  been  granted  "  virtual  independence"  and 
it  was  "inconsistent  with  our  policy  to  force  them  to 
come  to  our  aid."  It  was  shameful  that  we  had  to 
enlist  Africans  to  aid  us  and  would  be  a  worse  shame 
to  "drag  in  the  Indians."  They  may  volunteer,  as 
foreigners  do,  but  the  world's  judgment  would  hold  it 
hazardous  to  bring  into  the  field  men  who  fight  with 
the  tomahawk,  though  that  weapon  is  "not  a  bit 
worse  than  the  weapon  the  Confederates  are  using,  the 
bowie  knife."  In  drafting  Indians,  savages  can  not  be 
distinguished  from  those  civilized. 

The  question  of  punishing  guerrillas  came  up  on  June 
1 6,  and  Johnson  said,  that,  in  the  legal  and  constitu 
tional  sense,  if  the  war  was  at  an  end,  the  courts  would 
not  permit  a  commission  from  any  branch  of  the  Con 
federate  government  "issued  by  a  co-conspirator  and 
a  co-traitor"  to  serve  as  a  defense  against  homicide. 

36  On  June  23. 
36  On  June  20. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  85 

But  as  we  must  not  have  retaliation  during  the  war, 
the  Confederates  must  be  recognized  as  having  a  govern 
ment  in  fact,  to  be  dealt  with  as  legally  established  and 
entitled  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners.  The  bill  to  pun 
ish  guerrillas,  as  it  does  not  define  them,  may  lead  to 
retaliation  and  wrongfully  takes  power  from  the  civil 
authority  of  loyal  States,  by  providing  for  the  trial  of 
the  offenses  anywhere.37  When  gunboat  contractors 
claimed  relief,38  Johnson  favored  interference  to  prevent 
their  ruin  and  urged  that  "a  great  government,  when 
dealing  with  citizens,  will  never  be  influenced  by  those 
nice  and  strictly  legal  principles  which  govern  contracts 
between  man  and  man."  On  the  same  day,  he  pressed 
on  the  Senate  the  importance  of  proper  remuneration 
to  Ericsson  for  his  Monitor,  by  which  great  boon  we 
were  placed  in  position  to  defy  the  navies  of  the  world.39 
He  was  distinctly  a  Border  State  Union  man  and, 
when  Saulsbury  of  Delaware  offered  an  amendment 
to  a  "bill  dealing  with  the  rebel  States"  that  all  white 
persons  in  loyal  States  be  protected,  Johnson  met  this 
manifestation  of  "copperheadism,"  by  opposing  the 
resolution,  as  it  merely  affirmed  the  constitution  which 
cannot  be  made  more  valid.  If  there  is  not  such  pro 
tection,  it  is  the  executive's  fault  and  if  he  will  not  obey 
the  constitution,  he  will  not  obey  the  act.  The  amend 
ment  further  was  not  germane  to  the  bill. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  States  in 
rebellion,  is  only  so  far  in  force  as  is  consistent  with  the  state 
of  war  which  exists  between  the  United  States  and  the  States 
in  rebellion.  The  trial  by  jury  and  all  personal  guarantees 

37  On  June  30,  he  again  spoke  on  the  danger  of  retaliation. 

38  On  June  22. 

39  He  referred  to  the  great  joy,  because  of  the  victory  over  the  Merrimac, 
which  he  had  seen  while  a  member  of  the  State  legislature,  at  Annapolis. 


86  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

that  the  Constitution  provides  for  a  state  of  peace  are  neces 
sarily  at  an  end,  for  the  time,  in  a  state  of  war  between  the 
United  States  and  the  people. 

Reconstruction  had  already  begun  and  men  from 
Arkansas  were  knocking  at  the  doors  of  the  Senate 
for  admission.  An  extended  debate  took  place  between 
Johnson  and  Sumner,  on  June  13,  over  a  motion  to 
refer  the  question  of  their  admission  to  the  judiciary 
committee.  Sumner  said  the  seceding  States  were  out 
of  the  Union  and,  therefore,  their  citizens  were  alien 
enemies,  and  Johnson's  quick  rejoinder  was  that  then 
Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee  was  an  alien  enemy  and 
could  not  be  elected  vice-president.  The  fact  was, 
however,  that  Tennessee  was  a  State,  as  much  as  ever. 
Sumner  replied  that  the  territory  was  in  the  Union  and 
Johnson  quickly  said:  "I  did  not  suppose  the  land  had 
gone  out  or  seceded"  and  that  Sumner,  whose  industry 
he  praised,  had  voted  for  the  confirmation  and  payment 
of  federal  officers  in  Arkansas.  Johnson  questioned 
Lincoln's  reconstruction  policy.  The  President  had  no 
right  to  say  who  shall  be  Senator,  and  his  proclamation 
for  the  restoration  of  State  government,  when  one- 
tenth  of  the  voters  have  qualified  as  loyal,  ought  to  be 
carefully  considered.  Referring  to  William  Pinkney's 
great  speech  on  the  Missouri  Compromise,  Johnson  said 
that  a  State  can  come  into  the  Union  only  as  an  equal. 
Massachusetts  could  reestablish  slavery,  if  she  thought 
proper  to  do  so,  and,  if  Arkansas  could  not  do  so,  she 
would  not  be  equal.40  "I  trust  in  God,  the  Union  is 
destined  to  last  forever,  but  it  cannot  last,  when  once 
it  is  understood  that  each  State  in  the  Union  is  not  the 
equal  of  every  other."  If  the  seceded  States  are  in 

40 1  regret  that  Johnson  cited  the  baseless  slander  that  Massachusetts  sold 
her  slaves  to  the  South. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  87 

the  Union,  they  have  a  right  to  choose  presidential 
electors  and  if  the  election  hinges  on  them  and  Lincoln 
wins  through  their  votes,  "I  can  almost  hear,  by  antici 
pation,  the  mutterings  of  the  thunder."  Sumner  said 
that  Johnson  agreed  with  him  that  the  States  were  not 
entitled  to  vote  and  Johnson  replied  that  he  always 
tried  to  agree  with  Sumner,  but  seldom  succeeded,  for 
the  difference  between  them  was 

as  wide  as  the  poles.  I  consider  the  war  now  being  carried 
on  against  the  citizens  of  those  States,  as  being  carried  on 
against  them  individually,  that  each  man  is  just  as  much  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  in  these  States  now,  as  is  each  man 
in  the  loyal  States:  but  as  those  men,  for  the  most  part,  are 
now  in  arms  against  the  United  States,  trying  to  destroy  the 
United  States,  they  are  not  to  be  represented  in  the  electoral 
college,  because  they  are  criminals,  traitors,  whom  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  United  States  to  prosecute  as  such  and  to  punish 
as  such. 

If  they  are  pardoned,  reorganize  their  State  govern 
ments  and  come  here,  "they  have  the  right  to  come, 
but,  until  they  do  that,  they  are  the  enemies  of  the 
United  States."  He  was  hopeful  of  success  and  added: 
"  I  think  I  see — but  I  am  sanguine,  I  think  I  see  that  the 
time  is  comparatively  near  at  hand,  when"  the  rebellion 
"will  be  put  down.  I  do  not  believe  .  .  .  it  is 

in  the  providence  of  God,  that  this  nation  is  to  die.  I 
believe  it  will  survive  and  be  the  purer  and  greater  for 
the  trial  through  which  it  was  passed." 

Johnson  was  interested  in  the  Military  Academy,41 
complained  of  reexaminations  given  by  the  influence  of 
Congressmen,  and  thought  that  the  President  should 
appoint  cadets  and  midshipmen  from  the  States  in  rebel 
lion,  where  there  are  no  congressmen,  if  such  pupils 

41  On  March  n  and  14. 


88  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

could  be  found.  The  Naval  Academy  had  been  re 
moved  in  1 86 1  temporarily  to  Newport  and,  on  April  12, 
he  urged  its  return  to  Annapolis.  At  the  time  of  its 
removal,  the  State  of  Maryland  "was  in  a  condition  of 
great  disquiet.  It  is  unpleasant  for  me  to  recollect  how 
deep  the  feeling  of  hostility  towards  the  United  States, 
on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the  people  of  Maryland,  at 
that  time  was  and  serious  apprehensions  were  enter 
tained  that  the  Academy  would  be  taken  possession  of 
by  mob  violence,  by  traitorous  machinations,  and  held 
as  against  the  Government."  After  the  removal,  Gen 
eral  Butler  seized  the  grounds  and  Secretary  Stan  ton 
would  not  give  them  up,  although  most  of  the  naval 
officers  wished  to  return.  The  War  Department  could 
get  along  without  the  grounds  and  should  not  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  school,  for  the  hospitals  now  placed 
there  can  be  located  elsewhere  and  Maryland 

has  not  only  spoken,  so  as  to  satisfy  the  whole  world  that  she 
is  loyal  to  the  Government  and  to  the  Union,  but  that  she  is 
loyal  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  that  she  has  made  up 
her  mind  that  the  last  badge  of  servitude,  as  far  as  her  limits 
are  concerned,  shall  be  terminated;  that  her  soil  shall  only 
be  trod  by  the  feet  of  freemen,  without  regard  to  complexion 
or  to  race She  desires  to  be  and  to  remain  for 
ever,  a  State  of  a  Union,  in  which  there  shall  be  not  other 
servitude  than  the  servitude  which  belongs  to  an  honest  and 
patriotic  obedience  to  the  laws.42 

Financial  matters  received  Johnson's  attention.     He 
objected43  to  raising  the  tax  on  whiskey  already  distilled, 

42  Maryland's  Constitutional  Convention  was  just  about  drafting  a  constitu 
tion  which  abolished  slavery.     While  Johnson  seems  not  to  have  spoken  again 
on  the  Naval  Academy  question,  his  letters  of  Dec.  5,  1865,  and  March  16, 
1866,  to  Governors  Bradford  and  Swann  printed  in  9  Md.  Hist.  Mag.,  pp. 
68,  69,  show  that  his  interest  in  the  subject  continued. 

43  On  February  4. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  89 

as  unfair44  and,  when  the  deficiency  bill  came  up  for 
consideration,  on  February  12,  he  remarked  that  Con 
gress  could  not  accurately  approximate  the  amount  the 
government  will  need  and  that  a  standing  committee 
would  not  help  matters.  When  an  appropriation  is  ex 
hausted,  a  department  must  act  on  its  responsibility, 
trusting  that  Congress  will  ratify  the  act.  All  that  a 
committee  could  do,  would  be  to  see  that  moneys  appro 
priated  are  not  squandered.  It  could  not  say,  for  exam 
ple,  to  officers,  you  pay  too  much  for  hay,  or  compel 
the  Executive  to  carry  on  war  where  it  wished.  On  the 
other  hand,  Congress  is  not  obliged  to  appropriate  what 
a  department  asks  and  may  examine  its  estimates. 

Johnson  favored  the  disposal,  for  the  purchase  of 
supplies,  of  the  gold  in  the  treasury  not  needed  for  inter 
est  on  the  debt.  The  distrust  in  the  power  of  the 
country  to  meet  its  engagements  was  the  cause  of  the 
premium  on  gold.  The  debt  increases  fast  and  bears 
higher  interest  than  that  of  England.  It  has  a  bad 
influence  for  the  nation  to  buy  its  own  notes  at  a  depre 
ciated  value.  Extravagance  and  the  great  profits  of 
contractors  should  be  diminished.  He  defended  Chase's 
relations  with  Jay  Cooke  and  advocated  higher  taxes, 
as  a  means  for  reviving  credit. 

Johnson  refused  to  support  the  bill  prohibiting  specu 
lation  in  gold,  for  he  felt  it  could  not  be  passed  under  the 
powers  to  regulate  the  coinage,  to  borrow  money,  or  to 
regulate  commerce.  It  is  not  depreciation  of  coin,  but 
of  paper,  of  which  there  is  complaint  and  the  United 
States  has  no  jurisdiction  over  contracts,  by  which  it 
may  prevent  gambling  in  gold  or  in  any  thing  else,  or 

44  On  March  i ,  he  opposed  the  policy  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
issue  5/20  bonds  for  excess  subscriptions  and  on  April  16,  he  showed  watch 
fulness  in  the  discussion  of  the  appropriation  bill. 


9O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

over  buying  and  selling  for  exchange.  The  bill  allowed 
selling  of  gold  in  praesente  which  destroyed  its  efficiency. 
Currency  problems  rest  on  fundamental  laws  and  the 
true  causes  of  the  bad  state  of  the  currency  were  infla 
tion  and  a  war  of  a  "  magnitude  greater  than  ever  before 
shocked  humanity."  The  true  remedy  was  "additional 
and  adequate  taxation."  Victory  will  cause  the  debt 
to  be  "considered  trivial,"  compared  with  the  Nation's 
present  and  future  resources.45 

He  objected  also,  on  April  28,  to  taxing  goods  in  bond 
at  a  higher  rate,  as  an  act  of  bad  faith.  Prices  had 
much  increased,  and  the  gold  bill  had  had  only  a  tem 
porary  effect,  as  he  had  prophesied.  The  present  tariff 
brought  in  enough  to  pay  the  debt,  principal  and  inter 
est,  in  gold  and  the  proposed  temporary  measure  pro 
vided  that  a  man,  who  now  had  gold  in  a  bonded  ware 
house,  should  pay  50  per  cent  increase  while  he,  who 
imported  goods  after  the  bill  went  into  effect,  paid  only 
30  per  cent  increase.  Johnson  held  that  there  was  a 
contract  between  the  government  and  the  importer  that 
he  may  take  out  goods  from  bond,  on  paying  the  amount 
of  duty  levied  at  the  time  of  warehousing. 

When  Johnson  objected  to  exempting  national  bank 
stock  from  taxation,46  as  hard  upon  Maryland,  and  un 
necessary,  since  national  banks  would  probably  super 
sede  State  banks  and  should  be  able  to  pay  both  National 
and  State  taxes,  Chandler  of  New  Hampshire  said: 
"Some  men  have  the  Constitution  on  the  brain."  John 
son  at  once  took  fire: 

We  have  sworn  not  to  violate  it.  I  too  favor  a  liberal  con 
struction.  If  the  Constitution  leaves  the  State  the  right  to 
tax  and  we  take  it  away,  we  sin  against  the  Constitution.  The 

45  Vide,  speech  of  April  16  also. 

46  On  April  27. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  91 

States  must  not  be  bankrupted,  but  their  cordial  support  must 
be  given  the  National  Government;  for,  only  by  perfect  accord 
between  the  loyal  States  and  Nation,  can  the  expenses  of  the 
war  be  met. 

On  April  29,  he  spoke  to  the  same  point  and  distin 
guished  the  Maryland  tax  on  a  franchise  of  a  bank,  as 
in  the  McCulloh  case,47  from  the  right  to  tax  the  prop 
erty  of  citizens  invested  in  the  stock  of  the  bank  and 
insisted  that  the  case  of  Brown  v.  Maryland,  in  which 
he  had  been  counsel,  confirmed  this  view.  Sumner 
asked  whether  this  would  not  permit  the  State  to  tax  the 
stock  indirectly,  though  it  could  not  tax  it  directly,  and 
Johnson  replied  that  it  could  tax  the  bank's  real  estate. 

He  felt  that  the  banks  could  not  resume  specie  pay 
ments48  until  the  United  States  should  withdraw  the 
legal  tender  notes.  "So  long  as  the  rebellion  lasts," 
there  can  be  no  return  of  specie  paying  currency.  John 
son49  was  unable  to  see  that  Congress  had  power  to  fix 
the  sum  of  the  circulation,  nor  that  to  do  so  would  be 
useful.  He  questioned  the  constitutionality  of  the  legal 
tender  notes,  especially  as  to  past  debts;  though  he 
should  have  voted  for  the  bill  to  issue  them,  feeling  that 
there  was  a  reasonable  doubt  in  the  matter.  He  hoped 
that  the  Judges  would  uphold  their  constitutionality. 

Except  for  the  tax  on  State  banks,  he  approved  the 
National  Bank  Act  as  a  whole,  and  thought  the  want 
of  a  uniform  currency  throughout  the  country  had  been 
a  crying  evil,  when  there  was  no  United  States  Bank.50 

47  Johnson  had  been  present  at  the  argument  of  this  case. 

48  On  May  2. 

49  Speech  on  May  9. 

50  On  May  10,  he  opposed  an  enforcement  of  stockholder's  liability,  except 
when  the  assets  have  been  ascertained  to  be  too  small.     On  June  4,  he  said  the 
National  Banks  ought  to  make  monthly  returns,  but  may  well  pay  the  tax 
semi-annually. 


92  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

As  to  the  income  tax,  Johnson  advocated  exemption  of 
small  incomes  and  no  increased  percentage  for  the  richer 
man.51  In  the  debate  on  the  internal  revenue  bill52  he 
held  that  the  federal  government  should  not  license  a 
trade  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  a  State  and  said  that 
the  States  had  exclusive  control  over  lotteries.53  He 
held54  that  the  taxing  power  of  the  Nation  was  exclu 
sively  to  raise  revenue,  except  as  to  protecting  manu 
facturers,  and  that  in  protecting  them  it  may  prohibit. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  the  motive  of  Congress  in 
passing  a  law  can  not  be  inquired  into  in  a  judicial  pro 
ceeding.  He  objected  to  a  tax  on  State  Bank  circula 
tion  and  held  that  such  paper  was  not  " bills  of  credit." 
He  had  no  doubt  that  the  United  States  could  pay  its 
debts  and  that  the  Nation's  honor  would  be  saved  and 
felt  that: 

We  are  just  as  much  bound  to  adhere  to  the  Constitution  as 
the  Courts  and  we  are  just  as  much  violating  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  if  we  do  in  the  execution  of  the  particular 
power,  what  that  power  was  not  granted  to  accomplish,  as  the 
courts  would  be  if  they  sanctioned  it.55 

51  On  May  27. 

52  On  May  25  and  27. 

53  On  the  liquor  question,  Fessenden  advocated  a  liquor  tax,  as  men  will 
sell  liquor  any  way  and  without  a  tax  the  government  will  lose  revenue, 
Johnson  (vide  on  June  2  and  4)  said  that  a  steam  boat,  passing  through  a  canal, 
pays  toll  and  should  receive  credit  for  these  tolls  on  the  gross  receipt  tax.    It 
throws  a  favorable  light  on  Johnson's  conception  of  legal  ethics  to  find  him 
saying  that  he  would  not  draw  a  deed  for  a  man  without  a  color  of  title. 

64  On  June  i. 

55  On  June  2,  he  spoke  concerning  the  duty  on  quicksilver  and  the  tax  on 
express  companies  and  opposed  taxation  of  savings  bank  depositors.  He 
referred  to  the  taxation  in  Maryland  of  mortgages  and  of  savings  bank  franchises. 
On  June  6,  he  said  that,  when  they  had  a  stamp  act  in  Maryland,  they  found 
that  the  stamp  was  rarely  put  on  papers  while  they  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  original  parties,  but  only  when  there  was  a  contest. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  93 

He  feared  that  the  internal  revenue  bill  would  not 
bring  in  as  much  revenue  as  was  expected,  and  opposed 
taxing  some  articles  10  per  cent  and  others  5  per  cent. 
Especially56  he  objected  to  a  specific  tax  on  tobacco,  as 
a  discrimination  in  favor  of  Connecticut,  as  against 
Kentucky  and  Maryland,  whose  industry  has  been  hurt 
terribly  by  the  war,  because  the  "  Southern  States,  who, 
false  to  duty  and  false  to  honor,  have  left  us,"  had  taken 
away  the  chief  market.  He  felt  there  was  no  want  of 
patriotism  in  the  Senate57  but  that  the  delays  in  the 
passage  of  the  revenue  bill  were  due  to  the  House. 
The  rise  in  the  price  of  gold  did  not  surprise  him,  as 
it  was  not  an  article  of  commerce  nor  was  used  as  money, 
but  he  believed  that  the  success  of  the  Union  arms  and 
the  determination  to  meet  the  country's  demands  by 
taxation  will  lead  in  the  end  to  satisfactory  results.58 
He  opposed  an  ad  valorem  tax  on  tea,59  because  of  the 
difficulty  in  appraising  it,  and  an  import  tax  on  railroad 
iron,  as  manufacturers  engaged  to  supply  the  govern 
ment  can  not  make  it,  and  all  the  railroad  iron  is  bought 
abroad  by  such  a  corporation  as  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
railroad,  which  is  "comparatively  a  rich  company. 
Notwithstanding  the  inroads  upon  this  road  made  by 
the  rebels,  it  has  been  doing  an  immense  business  and 
has  been  able  to  pay  6  per  cent,  besides  reconstructing 
the  railway,  because  of  the  peculiar  loyalty  of  the 
road  and  the  condition  of  the  country,  in  other  respects, 
which  has  increased,  in  some  measure,  the  business."  He 
felt60  that  the  object  of  the  proposed  tariff  was  more  to 
raise  a  revenue  than  to  give  protection.  A  time  when  citi 
zens  suffered  was  a  bad  one  to  raise  the  duties,  so  as  to 

55  On  June  6.  57  On  June  3. 

is  On  June  6,  he  spoke  on  warehousing,  etc. 

*9  On  June  16.  60  On  June  17. 


94  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

prohibit  or  raise  the  price  of  foreign  articles.  Manufac 
turers  were  probably  never  more  prosperous  than  under 
the  existing  tariff  and,  if  the  people  find  it  difficult  to 
meet  current  expenses,  they  also  will  not  be  able  con 
veniently  to  meet  the  government's  calls.61 

In  the  affairs  of  the  District  of  Columbia  he  took  a 
peculiar  interest,  differentiating  it  from  the  territories.62 
When  Saulsbury  opposed  allowing  negroes  to  ride  on 
the  Washington  street  railway  cars,  Johnson  said:. 

If  a  black  man  proposes  to  ride  in  a  first  class  car  upon  any 
of  the  railroads,  where  there  is  no  State  statute  preventing  it, 

he  has  just   as   much  right to   be   transported 

upon  that  car  as  a  white  man.  There  is  no  more  right  to 
exclude  a  black  man  from  a  car  designed  for  the  transportation 
of  white  persons  than  there  is  a  right  to  refuse  to  transport  in 
a  car  designed  for  black  persons,  white  men. 

He  thought  too  much  time  was  spent  in  discussing 
-  the  negro  question.  Public  judgment  opposed  political 
and  social  equality.  Negroes  should  have  all  the  rights 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  protect  life  and  property; 
but,  "when  we  come  to  the  questions  of  political  rights 
and  social  enjoyment,  there  are  other  considerations 
that  enter  into  such  inquiries."  Prejudice  must  then 
be  considered.  Some  negroes  have  as  much  intellect 
as  white  men,  but  it  would  not  be  wise  to  have  them 
in  the  Senate.63  "I  should  have  no  objection  to  ride 

61  On  June  10,  he  advocated  payment  for  feeding  the  Winnebago  Indians 
which  had  been  done  without  warrant  by  the  Interior  Department  and, on  June 
15,  he  supported  an  appropriation  to  pay  Schoolcraft  for  copies  of  his  Indian 
book. 

62  On  February  17,  he  advocated  paying  part  of  the  expense  of  its  jail  and 
its  penitentiary  prisoners  to  Maryland  instead  of  to  Albany.     On  May  24 
he  opposed  registration  of  voters  in  Washington  on  election  day.     Registration 
should  be  limited  to  an  earlier  date. 

63  He  referred  to  Banneker,  the  negro  mathematician  and  said  that  he  did 
not  eat  with  white  men. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  95 

in  a  car  with  them,  provided  they  were  clean,  and  I 
have  just  as  much  object  on  to  sitting  along  side  of  a 
dirty  white  man  as  to  sitt'ng  along  side  of  a  dirty  black 
man."  He  admitted,  however,  that  ladies  objected. 
Slaves,  he  added,  were  as  a  rule  kindly  treated,  yet 
Johnson  was  glad  that  slavery  is  coming  to  an  end,  and, 
with  Washington,  he  thought  that  it  hurt  the  value  of 
good  land  about  the  Chesapeake.  Sumner  well  said 
of  this  address  that  Johnson,  with  "nimbleness  of 
speech,"  had  ranged  "over  a  very  extensive  field." 

Later  in  the  Session,  the  question  of  running  street 
cars  on  Sunday  came  up  and  Willey  of  West  Virginia 
said  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God.  Johnson 
replied  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  go  to  church 
and  worship  God  according  to  his  own  conscience,  and, 
if  in  the  particular  locality  in  which  he  happens  to  be, 
he  can  not  get  to  church  without  extraneous  help,  there 
ought  to  be  some  mode  in  which  he  would  be  able  to 
get  to  church."  He  cited  the  case  of  a  coachman  and 
horses  in  the  country,  and  referred  to  the  local  condi 
tions  of  this  "city  of  magnificent  distances."  It  is  often 
difficult  to  understand  scriptural  injunctions  and  "we 
may  make  our  conduct  conform  to  their  general  spirit, 
but  a  literal  construction  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  purpose  which  the  Maker  of  the  world  intended  to 
effect."  Johnson  further  did  not  believe  in  preventing 
a  working  man  from  going  to  the  country  on  Sunday. 
He  had  been  a  very  hard  and  "incessant  laboring  man" 
and  had  found  that,  when  he  had  "the  promise  of  a 
Sunday  with  the  privilege  of  going  out,  unaffected  by 
the  cares  of  office  and  engagements  of  my  profession, 
I  was  the  better  physically,  as  well  as  morally." 

Johnson  knew  many  parts  of  the  country64  and  was 

'E.g.  Key  West.    April  n,  1864. 


96  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

especially  interested  in  western  land  questions.65  He  felt 
that  the  public  lands  should  be  saved  to  help  pay  the 
enormous  public  debts,  which  it  would  require  a  "patri 
otic  effort  to  meet,"  and  he  feared  to  permit  the  Western 
States  to  absorb  these  lands,  of  which  the  Atlantic 
States  had  received  no  share.66  As  subsidies  were  given 
western  railroads,  Johnson  asked67  why  none  were  given 
for  ships  and  favored  one  for  mail  service  to  Brazil, 
since  the  South  American  trade  was  formerly  great  and 
he  felt  "that  our  country  is  somewhat  in  dishonor,  from 
the  fact  that  it  has  no  ocean  line  of  steamers."68 

When  there  was  a  debate  as  to  what  constituted  a 
constitutional  quorum  of  the  Senate,69  Johnson  said  that, 
in  his  opinion,  it  was  a  majority  of  the  senators  elected. 
The  House  of  Representatives  is  composed  of  members 
chosen,  not  of  members  which  the  States  have  a  right 
to  chose.  The  right  to  compel  absent  members  to  come 
to  the  session  shows  that  only  chosen  persons  were 
counted.  It  was  properly  held  that  the  requirement  for 
two-thirds  vote  of  the  Senate  on  a  constitutional  amend- 

65  On  March  7,  he  defended  a  land  grant  to  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi 
Railroad,  by  whose  projectors  he  had  been  consulted.     On  March  28,  he  spoke 
on  California  land  titles,  especially  that  of  the  famous  quicksilver  mine  and 
said  that  all  such  cases  should  go  to  the  courts.    On  April  15,  he  favored  con 
firming  the  title  to  lands  in  Minnesota  of  one  Ford,  who  was  a  bonafide  pur 
chaser  of  a  fradulent  land  warrant.     On  April  30,  he  spoke  on  the  San  Ramon 
land  grant  in  California.     On  May  20,  he  spoke  on  the  Pacific  Railroad  and  its 
receiving  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  saying  that  it  was  fair  to  reduce  the 
damages  to  private  owners  by  the  beneficial  effect  of  the  road,  as  was  done  in 
assessing  benefits  and  damages,  when  streets  are  opened  in  Baltimore.    On 
June  7,  he  spoke  on  a  land  grant  in  New  Mexico  and  on  June  u,  on  Juan 
Miranda's  claim. 

66  See  debate  on  Military  Road  in  Wisconsin  on  June  15. 

67  On  May  20. 

68  On  June  18,  he  spoke,  urging  that  the  government  keep  its  contract  as 
to  the  Overland  Mail. 

"On  May  4. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  97 

ment  was  fulfilled  on  March  2,  1861,  when  twenty- 
four  voted  aye  and  twelve  voted  no,  although  twenty- 
four  was  not  two-thirds  of  the  entire  Senate.  The 
Government  must  go  on  and  the  South  is  kept  by  itself 
alone  from  electing  senators.  The  Union  stands  upon 
the  strength  of  the  loyal  States,  and  if  the  South  left 
the  Union,  would  still  stand,  represented  in  her  remain 
ing  States.  The  Constitution  does  not  require  every 
State  entering  the  Union  to  remain  there  forever,  that 
the  Union  may  continue.  Garrett  Davis  retorted  that 
the  courts  may  disagree  with  Johnson,  who  brightly 
replied:  " That  may  be.  They  have  often  done  so,  very 
much  to  the  disappointment  of  my  clients." 

On  May  10,  he  spoke  in  favor  of  a  bill,  of  which  he 
had  charge,  concerning  proceedings  in  criminal  cases, 
in  which  the  United  States  were  allowed  peremptory 
challenge  in  trials  for  treason  and  said  that  he  had  acted 
as  prosecutor,  and  more  often  in  the  defense,  and  felt 
it  a  gross  injustice  that  the  government  had  not  pre 
viously  possessed  such  privileges.  He  favored  permit 
ting  the  accused  person  to  waive  a  jury  trial,  a  practice 
which  had  been  found  to  work  well  in  Maryland.70 

70  Miscellaneous  speeches  of  his  are  those:  on  March  8,  defending  General 
Curtis,  whom  he  had  known  in  the  Peace  Conference,  from  charges  of  cotton 
speculation;  on  March  15,  objecting  to  the  appointment  of  twenty-five  consular 
pupils  at  a  salary  of  $1,000  each  and  favoring  the  appointment  of  a  minister 
plenipotentiary  instead  of  a  minister  resident  at  Brussels,  since  the  King  of 
Belgium  had  been  very  friendly  and  had  sent  a  plenipotentiary;  on  April  8, 
urging  that  Illinois  be  required  to  cede  jurisdiction  over  the  site  of  the  Rock 
Island  arsenal  and  stating  that  eminent  domain  is  in  the  United  States  as  inci 
dental  to  other  powers;  on  June  7,  advocating  the  printing  in  the  Congressional 
Globe  only  what  is  said  in  Congress;  and  on  June  18,  moving  adjournment, 
when  Trumbull  and  Fessenden  had  engaged  in  a  heated  argument  and  saying: 
"We  are  all  of  us,  more  or  less,  at  times,  under  the  control  of  impulses  and 
we  have,  all  of  us,  at  times,  uttered,  in  a  moment  of  excitement,  what  we 
afterwards,  upon  cooler  reflection,  much  regret." 


98  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

When  Congress  assembled  in  December,  1864,  it  was 
evident  that  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  was  close  at 
hand.  Johnson's  first  speech  of  the  session  was  deliv 
ered  on  December  18,  upon  the  defense  of  the  Northern 
frontier,  where  the  St.  Alban's  raid  had  recently  occurred. 
He  believed  that  the  governments  of  Canada  and  of 
Great  Britain  would  try  to  observe  neutrality  and  that, 
doubtless,  under  the  law  of  nations,  if  such  raids  con 
tinue  and  the  raiders  cannot  be  arrested  in  the  United 
States,  they  may  be  pursued  into  the  adjoining  foreign 
territory.71  The  judge  who  released  the  St.  Alban's 
raiders  acted  wrongly  and  it  is  proper  that  we  should 
prevent  the  repetition  of  such  acts,  or  vindicate  our 
selves  against  such  "acts  of  piratical  warfare,  thieving 
and  murder."  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  Johnson 
expressed  himself  as  approving  of  the  surrender  of  Mason 
and  Slidell  and  as  thinking  that  the  act  of  July,  1861, 
and  the  prize  cases  showed  that  Great  Britain  did  not 
act  too  speedily  in  recognizing  the  rebels  as  belligerents.71 

He  was  as  eager  as  ever  that  the  war  should  be  ended 
successfully  and  favored  immediate  action,73  without 
reference  to  a  committee,  on  a  resolution  of  thanks  to 
General  Sherman. 

Not  only  was  the  campaign  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta 
most  unrivalled  for  the  gallantry  and  skill  displayed  and  its 
successful  termination,  but  the  progress  of  the  march  from 
Atlanta  through  Georgia,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles, 
with  an  army  of  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  men,  without  losing 
a  man  hardly,  and  finally  capturing  the  city  of  Savannah, 
without  firing  a  gun,  will,  in  the  history  of  military  affairs 

71  "I  believe  that  right  is  just  as  firmly  settled  as  any  other  question  can  be 
settled  by  the  law  of  nations." 

72  On  January  5,  he  protested  against  including  a  provision  for  brevet  rank 
in  a  bill  to  naturalize  foreigners  in  the  army. 

73  On  January  6,  1865. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  99 

the  world  over,  be  considered,  not  only  as  without  example, 
but  as  an  achievement  that  the  imagination  of  man  in  advance 
hardly  thought  to  be  possible. 

The  brilliant  and  successful  termination  of  the  Georgia 
campaign  seemed  to  "have  brought  about  very  strong 
grounds  for  believing  that  it  will  contribute  very  largely 
in  putting  an  end  to  the  rebellion." 

He  reiterated  his  position74  against  manumitting  the 
families  of  slaves  who  enlisted  in  the  army.  He  had 
been  so  anxious  to  abolish  slavery  that  he  voted  against 
referring  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee  and  he  did  not  wish  the  families  to  remain 
in  slavery,  but  thought  it  not  in  the  power  of  Congress 
to  free  them  by  act.  He  had  never  doubted  the  power 
to  raise  negro  armies;  for,  "whether  he  was  slave  or 
free,"  the  negro  "held  the  relation  of  citizen,  owing  an 
allegiance  to  the  United  States"  and  so  was  subject  to 
a  call  to  arms.  There  had  been  no  difficulty  in  obtain 
ing  black  soldiers  in  Maryland,  by  voluntary  or  com 
pulsory  enlistment,  and  they  had  already  shown  them 
selves  "gallant  and  efficient."  Congress  had  no  power 
to  destroy  slavery  in  loyal  States.  In  reply  to  Wade's 
desire  that  the  war  be  continued  for  thirty  years,  if 
necessary,  till  slavery  was  entirely  abolished,  Johnson 
said,  "I  dislike  the  institution  just  as  much  as  he  does 
or  can.  I  think  it  is  attended  with  the  most  dire  of 
evils,  that  it  is  disadvantageous  to  the  master  and  keeps 
the  slave  in  a  condition  in  which  no  man  should  be 
placed,  demoralizes  him,  renders  him  incapable  of  know 
ing  what  moral  duty  is,  debars  him  of  the  privilege  of 
ascertaining  what  Christian  duty  is,  closes  the  Bible  to 
him  and  closes  every  variety  of  knowledge,  from  neces- 

74  On  January  9. 


100  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

sity."  Yet  he  would  terminate  the  war  at  once,  if  he 
could,  believing  that  "in  the  retributive  justice  of  heaven, 
the  institution  is  mortally  wounded  now,"  for  the  South, 
"must  have  seen  what  an  element  of  weakness  it  is  in 
war."  Suggestions  are  already  made  there  to  abolish  it 
and  thus  obtain  foreign  assistance.  Johnson  does  not 
wish  to  see  the  "Union  dissevered,  the  work  of  our 
fathers  gone,  our  former  glory  never  again  to  be  repeated, 
and  (as  is  certain  to  be  the  result)  every  ten  or  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  a  war  between  the  conterminous 
countries."  He  agreed  with  Lincoln  in  hoping  for  peace. 
There  is  a  step  beyond  which  "loyalty  would  become 
barbarity.  The  South,  God  knows,  has  suffered  enough. 
They  have  invited  it.  The  people  now,  as  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe,  see  that  they  have  been  misled 
through  the  arts,  wickedness,  and  insin 
cerity  of  the  madmen  by  whom  the  rebellion  was  inaugu 
rated."  It  is  time  to  hold  out  the  olive  branch  and 
make  the  Nation,  "potentially,  one  of  the  greatest  powers 
upon  the  face  of  the  habitable  globe."  He  believed  that 
abolition  of  slavery,  by  constitutional  enactment,  would 
not  be  an  impediment  to  a  successful  peace,  but  that 
such  a  step  would  "tend  to  strengthen  the  government 
and  greatly  increase  the  chances  of  an  early  restoration 
of  the  Union."  He  had  no  doubt  of  the  result,  if  we 
are  true  to  ourselves  and  wish  the  country  "peopled 
by  freemen  alone."  As  to  the  leaders  of  the  South, 
"if  Toombs,  Davis,  and  the  others  should  come  here, 
they  ought  to  be  indicted  for  treason  instead  of  being 
admitted"  to  Congress.75 

Johnson's  clear  views  as  to  the  war  powers  of  the 
President  were  shown76  in  the  debate  on  naval  forces 

76  Wade  significantly  said:  "If  they  will  throw  down  their  arms,  we  will 
govern  them,  until  they  do  right." 
76  On  January  18. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  IOI 

on  the  Great  Lakes.  It  was  proposed  by  the  com 
mittee,  unanimously,  that  the  treaty  of  1817  with  Great 
Britain,  limiting  such  forces,  be  terminated  and  the 
question  arose  whether  the  President  had  authority  to 
give  such  notice,  antecedent  to  Congressional  action. 
Johnson  maintained  that  he  had  the  authority,  for  for 
eign  nations  know  only  the  Executive  and  ' '  have  a  right 
to  suppose  that  what  he  does  in  behalf  of  the  United 
States  he  does  under  some  proper  authority."  He  cited 
Hamilton's  Pacificus  Letters  and  said  that  England, 
doubtless,  thought  that  Lincoln  had  the  right  to  issue 
his  proclamation  of  the  preceding  23rd  of  November 
and  so  replied  that  putting  an  end  to  the  treaty  was  not 
considered  an  unfriendly  act.  Congress  may  confirm 
his  act  by  subsequent  ratification.  Davis  of  Kentucky 
asked  whether  war  would  date  from  a  President's  proc 
lamation,  if  he  should  declare  it  and  Congress  ratify  his 
act  three  weeks  later,  and  Johnson  answered  affirma 
tively,  adding  that  war  is  an  existing  fact,  a  "  prosecu 
tion  of  some  supposed  right  by  force,"  and  the  Presi 
dent's  right  to  carry  on  war  against  invasion,  without 
an  antecedent  act  of  Congress,  is  clear,  although  his 
act  needs  Congressional  ratification.  In  the  Prize  Cases, 
the  court  admitted  that  every  belligerent  act  existed 
after  July  13,  1861,  but  the  rebels  had  declared  war 
before  that  day. 

He  opposed  strongly  retaliation  on  rebel  prisoners  for 
the  ill  treatment  of  the  Union  soldiers  held  prisoners,77 
except  in  future  cases  and  then,  without  allowing  cruelty, 
as  it  would  deprive  us  of  the  ''support  of  the  God  of 
justice."  Success  in  such  a  contest  would  be  infamy. 
Retaliation  should  be  limited  at  the  point  of  cruelty, 
as  Lieber  provided.  To  burn  prisoners,  even  if  the 
Confederates  did  so,  would  be  inexcusable,  though  such 

77  On  January  26,  27,  28. 


102  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

conduct  found  a  defender  in  the  heat  of  debate.  Ex 
change  of  prisoners  had  been  brought  about  between 
nations  by  Christianity  and  Johnson  thought  we  ought 
to  negotiate  for  exchange,  leaving  "the  rebel  govern 
ment,  if  they  have  resorted  to  the  enormities  stated  in 
this  resolution,  as  I  have  no  doubt  they  have,  to  the 
judgment  of  the  civilized  world,  which  will  pronounce 
a  judgment  of  infamy  against  all  who  are  concerned  in 
them."  If  Lincoln  had  refused  to  exchange  prisoners, 
on  the  "ground  that  the  enemy  would  not  deliver  the 
Africans  whom  they  have  taken  in  battle,  while  they 
were  willing  to  exchange"  white  soldiers,  or  because  an 
exchange  "would  inure  more  to  the  benefit  of  the  enemy, 
he  has  perpetrated  a  high  crime  against  the  soldiers." 
"The  black  is  in  no  worse  condition  by  rescuing  the 
white,"  but  is  better  off,  for  such  rescue  replenishes  the 
Federal  army.  As  a  general  rule  Congress  had  the 
power  over  the  exchange  and  treatment  of  prisoners ;  but 
the  President,  without  legislation,  might  retaliate  to  the 
extent  of  the  law  of  nations  and  even  commanding 
officers  had  certain  powers  of  retaliation,  as  Washing 
ton's  and  Jackson's  acts  showed.  If  the  rebels  refuse 
to  exchange  black  soldiers,  Johnson  advocated  keeping 
Confederate  prisoners,  man  for  man,  so  as  not  to  aban 
don  the  negroes,  but  he  would  also  keep  the  obligation 
to  our  white  soldiers.  He  "would  go  as  far  as  any 
Senator  in  protecting  any  black  man,  who  might  be 
enlisted  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  and  shoul 
dered  his  musket  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  United 
States."78 

78  On  February  6,  he  opposed  diminution  of  punishment  for  one  who  en 
listed  an  insane  person.  On  February  7,  he  opposed  a  graded  tax  on  incomes, 
to  pay  bounties,  as  making  a  distinction  between  rich  and  poor  and  as  being 
"class  legislation,  ....  always  mischievous  and  ....  defec 
tive  in  principle."  On  February  18,  he  spoke  in  reference  to  paying  the  Illinois 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 03 

Late  in  the  session,79  he  spoke  in  opposition  to  the 
bill  creating  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  as  it  made  no 
provision  for  white  refugees80  nor  for  trial  by  jury  in 
certain  cases  and  was  unconstitutional  in  declaring  that 
certain  officers  shall  be  deemed  to  be  in  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States,  so  as  to  "be  liable  to  trial 
by  courts  martial." 

On  the  questions  especially  dealing  with  the  Border 
States,  he  spoke  several  times  at  this  session.  He  ob 
jected  to  the  seizure,  incarceration,  and  punishment  of 
any  citizen  without  a  trial  and  protested  against  the 
misconduct  of  subordinates,  who  arrested  the  Lieuten 
ant-Go  vernor  and  a  presidential  elector  in  Kentucky, 
and  of  the  military,  who,  seeming  to  think  they  are  not 
bound  to  obey  State  or  National  laws,  had  disregarded 
in  Maryland  the  statute  providing  that  persons  not 
liable  to  military  control  should  be  turned  over  to  a 
civil  tribunal.81  "It  may  be  ....  that,  upon 
the  ground  of  military  necessity,  in  the  beginning  of 

Central  Railroad  for  transporting  troops.  On  February  24,  he  advocated 
fortification  of  ports,  especially  of  San  Francisco,  as  we  might  get  into  a  foreign 
war  and  our  experience  with  Forts  Fisher  and  Sumter  showed  that  iron  clad 
vessels  can  not  take  all  forts. 

79  On  February  22. 

80  He  showed  resentment,  when  Sumner  appealed  to  him  to  be  just. 

81  For  example,  at  the  election  on  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  in 
Caroline  County,  a  Union  man  took  the  oaths  but  was  refused  a  vote  and  when 
he  sued  the  election  officers,  he  was  thrown  into  jail  in  Baltimore.     The  elec 
tion  gave  a  majority  to  the  Democrats  in  the  legislature  and  one  timid  mem 
ber  from  a  county  was  threatened  with  arrest,  if  he  did  not  resign  and  did  so. 
In  Somerset  County,  a  Democrat,  who  received  a  majority  of  over  three  hundred 
votes,  also  received  a  polite  letter  from  Major  General  Lew  Wallace,  asking 
him  whether  he  thought  it  well  to  take  his  seat  in  the  legislature,  as  he  had 
raised  a  rebel  flag  on  his  premises  in  1861.    He  denied  this,  was  arrested, 
taken  to  Baltimore,  thrown  into  an  old  slave  prison  without  bed  clothing  to 
lie  upon  and  was  sent  South  on  the  next  day.    Appeal  was  made  to  Lincoln, 
who  telegraphed  that  no  action  be  taken  against  the  man,  but  was  answered 
that  he  had  already  been  sent  South.    Johnson  expressed  confidence  in  Lincoln. 


IO4  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

this  dreadful  war,  aiming  as  it  did  at  the  very  life  of 
the  nation,  these  arrests  were  unavoidable;  but,  thank 
God,  it  is  not  so  now,  thank  God,  it  seems  now  to  be 
approaching  its  end  and  the  end  will  be  the  restoration 
of  the  Union."  In  suppressing  the  rebellion,  the  rights 
of  the  loyal  citizen  should  be  preserved.82 

In  spite  of  his  action  in  behalf  of  suspected  persons, 
Johnson's  vigor  in  supporting  the  Union  led  him,83  in 
speaking  to  a  motion  asking  Lincoln  for  information  as 
to  a  peace  mission  to  Richmond,  to  refer  to  "the  rebel 
authorities,  for  speaking  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  I 
have  called  them  nothing  but  rebels  and  shall  continue 
to  call  them  so,  until  they  prove  themselves  able  to 
establish  their  independence."  At  times,  he  would  even 
yield  to  the  opinion  of  more  radical  Senators,  as  when 
he  voted  yea,  following  Sumner's  lead,  on  a  bill  for  an 
ironclad  oath  to  be  taken  by  lawyers,  though  he  thought 
it  unnecessary  to  prescribe  the  oath  for  them  alone  and 
not  for  men  of  other  professions.  So  too,  together  with 
Lyman  Trumbull,  he  supported  Lincoln's  reconstruc 
tion  policy  in  Louisiana.84  The  Committee  on  the  Judi 
ciary  thought  that  the  new  State  government  could  not 
be  recognized  except  by  act  of  Congress,  and  that  the 
Executive  had  no  power  to  "bring  the  State  back  under 
the  Constitution."  They  also  objected  to  the  institu 
tion  of  the  constitutional  proceedings  by  the  military 
authorities.  This,  Johnson  admitted  to  be  a  bad  prece 
dent;  but,  no  "matter  how  the  proceedings  wrere  insti 
tuted,  if,  in  point  of  fact,  the  people  of  the  State  did 
act  voluntarily  and  were  competent  to  act  under  the 

"?So  on  February  8,  he  said  postmasters  ought  not  be  allowed  to  break 
seals  and  take  anything  whatever  out  of  the  mails. 
i3  On  January  31. 

5  Rhodes  U.  S.  56. 


RE VERB Y   JOHNSON  1 05 

original  constitution  and  were  authorized  to  act  by  being 
loyal  at  the  time  they  did  act,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  receive  them  back." 
Only  14,000  voted  of  the  51,000  voting  population,  but 
no  loyal  man  was  excluded  from  voting.  So  many 
Louisianians  had  volunteered  in  the  rebel  army  that 
those  who  voted  might  easily  be  a  majority  of  the 
active  voters.  In  a  long  and  able  speech,  Johnson  dis 
cussed  the  relation  of  the  loyal  citizens  of  Louisiana  to 
the  Nation,  after  the  act  of  secession.  They  did  not 
cease  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  but  were  en 
titled  to  protection  and  had  forfeited  no  rights.  They 
were  kept  by  force  from  expressing  their  opinion,  but, 
when  protected,  should  be  allowed  to  vote.  If  the 
ordinance  of  secession  did  not  carry  the  State  out  of  the 
Union,  the  loyal  people  should  exercise  the  sovereign 
authority  belonging  to  the  State.  There  is  no  other 
way  for  them  to  come  back,  the  United  States  cannot 
interfere  with  the  State  suffrage  laws,  even  in  the  Wes 
tern  States,  which  admitted  to  the  polls  inhabitants  not 
yet  citizens.  "If  coming  together,  the  loyal  men"  did 
an  act  which  they  would  have  been  authorized  to  do, 
provided  they  had  come  forward  voluntarily,  we  ought 
to  receive  their  act,  though  done  under  military  author 
ity.  Maryland  had  adopted  a  constitution  manumitting 
slaves,  of  which  no  man  in  Maryland  seriously  questions 
the  obligation,  but  it  was  adopted  by  the  exclusion  of 
a  good  many  entitled  to  vote.  A  State  has  several 
meanings,  and  one  of  them  certainly  is  the  people. 
Sumner  said  the  States  should  be  governed  as  Prov 
inces.  What  then  becomes  of  the  loyal  citizens? 

It  is  the  American  doctrine  that  the  people  have  a  right,  as 
against  the  government,  to  meet  and  establish  a  government 
for  themselves.  If  it  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  Consti- 


IO6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

tution,  Congress  need  not  accept  it,  but,  when  a  State  is  ad 
mitted  on  an  equality  with  other  States,  it  has  a  right  to  change 
its  constitution  and  a  seceded  State  is  not  equal  to  Massachu 
setts,  if  the  former  may  not  come  back  without  negro  suffrage. 

Sumner  asked,  if  Ohio  could  repeal  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  and  Johnson  replied  in  the  affirmative  that  Ohio 
could  enslave  her  fellowmen  as  well  as  Massachusetts. 
Sumner  hotly  answered  that  "Massachusetts  cannot  do 
an  act  of  injustice,"  and  Johnson  retorted  that  she  had 
done  so  and  instanced  her  giving  the  vote,  which  pre 
vented  the  abolition  of  the  foreign  slave  trade  before 
1808.  Henderson  remarked  that  the  education  clause 
of  the  Massachusetts  constitution  would  prevent  most  of 
the  negroes  from  voting  in  Louisiana  and  Johnson  con 
tinued:  "If  Massachusetts  had  such  negroes,  lost  in 
ignorance,  divested  more  or  less  of  moral  sense,  because 
of  the  horrid  condition,  in  which  they  have  been  kept, 
knowing  not  what  the  laws  of  God  require,  because  they 
have  been  kept  in  a  state  of  ignorance,"  Massachusetts 
would  exclude  them  from  suffrage.  Maryland  had  just 
emancipated  one-third  of  its  population.  To  give  the 
freedmen  the  vote  would  place  Maryland  in  the  hands 
of  an  ignorant  population.  The  traitorous  rebels  are 
organizing  negro  troops,  shall  these  vote,  or  be  treated 
as  the  disloyal  whites?  By  the  new  constitution  of 
Louisiana,  slaves  are  legally  emancipated.  If  the  pend 
ing  resolve  does  not  pass,  their  freedom  will  depend  on 
the  presidential  proclamation,  whose  operation  beyond 
our  lines  is  more  than  doubtful. 

Sumner  then  inquired,  whether  Johnson  questioned 
the  affirmation  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  validity  of 
the  proclamation  over  all  the  Slave  States.  Johnson 
crossed  the  aisle  to  answer  and,  with  more  than  usual 
loudness  of  voice,  said  that  he  did  doubt  it,  but  that, 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  IO/ 

Southern  man  as  he  was,  he  wished  slavery  destroyed 
and  then  the  authority  of  the  Union  would  never  be 
destroyed.85  The  great  difference  between  the  Confed 
eration  and  the  Constitution  was  the  want  of  an  author 
ity  under  the  former  to  make  its  powers  efficient  and 
to  act  on  the  individual  citizen,  instead  of  on  the  State. 
Reconstruction  should  be  accomplished  quickly  and  the 
negroes,  suddenly  emancipated,  should  not  vote  now. 
If  they  are  given  the  suffrage,  "the  whole  of  that  vote 
will  for  years  be  in  the  hands  of  a  few  white  men."86 

On  the  last  day  of  the  Session,  when  a  proposition 
was  made  to  punish  the  Southern  sympathizers  known 
as  copperheads,  by  military  tribunal,  Johnson  asked 
whether  this  was  not  a  violation  of  the  Fifth  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution.  The  treatment  of  a  spy  in  a  loyal 
State  was  an  exception.  The  filling  of  the  military 
prisons  in  Baltimore  with  prisoners  not  notified  of  their 
offense  is  wrong,  while  to  say  "that  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  is  to  be  dragged  before  a  military  tribunal 
is  to  say  that  our  fathers  fought  during  the  Revolution 
in  vain." 

Though  Johnson  had  opposed  Lincoln's  reelection,  he 
gave  him  the  benefit  of  the  presumption  that  he  would 
not  keep  in  the  service  any  one  unnecessarily  and  felt 
that  it  would  be  indecorous  to  overrule  his  determina 
tion.87  Upon  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes,  he 
said  that88  he  thought  Congress  had  power  to  legislate 

86  During  this  speech,  he  had  a  colloquy  with   Sumner  on  Washington's 
position  and  that  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  of  1787  as  to  the  "con 
solidation  of  the  Union." 

88  The  sovereignty  of  the  State  in  subjects  left  to  it,  such  as  marriage,  is 
still  its  own  though  limited,  see  McCulloch  v.  Maryland  and  Marshall  v. 
Lewis. 

87  In  the  debate  on  dropping  unemployed  generals  from  the  rolls  on  January 
6. 

88  On  February  2. 


IO8  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

in  prohibition  of  the  counting  of  votes  from  States  in 
rebellion.  Congress  had  not  provided  a  way  of  decid 
ing  contested  elections,  but  has  the  power  to  do  so. 
The  Vice- President  cannot  exclude  any  votes.  The 
"efforts  of  those  rebellious  citizens  to  take  those  several 
States  out  of  the  Union  are  legally  imperfect,"  but  have 
put  the  States  "in  a  state  of  rebellion"  and  "at  war 
with  the  United  States."  These  States  cannot  vote, 
as  those  citizens  of  Maine  cofuld  not  who  were  under 
British  power  in  1812.  Probably,  if  all  the  inhabitants 
of  those  States  threw  down  their  arms,  and  admitted 
their  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  the  States  would 
be  entitled  to  seats  in  the  Senate,  but  that  is  not  the 
present  question.  Having  "got  rid  of  the  disturbing 
element  of  slavery,"  the  prospect  was  good  for  the 
"perpetuity  of  the  Union."  In  a  second  speech89  John 
son  said  that,  though  the  act  of  1861  did  not  name  the 
rebel  States,  they  are  named  in  the  presidential  proc 
lamation  thereunder  and,  therefore,  have  no  right  to 
choose  electors.  By  like  proclamation,  Lincoln  can  say 
the  rebellion  is  terminated  and  the  States,  which  have 
never  been  out  of  the  Union  in  a  constitutional  sense, 
then  cease  to  be  in  rebellion,  without  waiting  for  Con 
gressional  action.  If,  at  election  time,  rebellion  should 
have  been  terminated  and  the  authority  of  the  Constitu 
tion  reinstated,  the  States  are  entitled  to  representation 
in  Electoral  College  or  Congress.  "The  moment  the 
hostility  ceases,  then  the  commercial  intercourse  begins 
again  and,  that  beginning,  the  State  is  back  in  the  Union 
for  all  purposes."  A  war  may  terminate  before  a  treaty 
of  peace  is  made.  "Congress  has  no  constitutional 
right  to  carry  on  a  war  against  States,  but  may  suppress 
insurrection  which  amounts  to  war."  If  the  South  is 

"On  February  3. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 09 

willing  to  come  back  and  abide  by  the  decision  of  the 
majority  as  to  slavery,  it  would  be  murder  for  the 
President  to  authorize  another  man  to  be  shot.  The 
''terrible,  most  pestilent,  destructive  heresy"  of  secession 
was  most  earnestly  entertained  by  many  Southerners, 
who  thought  they  were  right.  Even  Lincoln  himself, 
when  a  Congressman,  had  seemed  to  entertain  it.  The 
Southerners  had  "been  made  to  see  that  the  resolution 
of  the  country  is  so  perfect,  the  devotion  to  the  Union 
is  so  absolute,  that  happen  what  will,  we  of  the  loyal 
States  mean  to  prosecute  the  war  to  the  end,  until  the 
insurrection  is  put  down,  which  has  no  other  foundation, 
in  point  of  law,  than  the  assumed  right  of  secession." 
The  President  has  the  power  to  pardon  and  it  is  proper 
he  should,  when  such  men  come  to  him  saying  they 
sinned:  as  A.  H.  Stephens,  who  denounced  secession  and 
predicted  its  evils;  Hunter,  who  never  was  party  to  it; 
or  Justice  Campbell,  who,  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
"thought  it  the  vilest  heresy  that  ever  entered  into  the 
imagination  of  man,  but  was  carried  away  by  circum 
stances  surrounding  him."90  However,91  when  Lincoln 
signed  a  resolve  as  to  representation  in  the  electoral 
college,  with  a  denial  of  the  right  to  such  legislative 
power  in  Congress,  Johnson  differed  with  him  and  said 
that  Lincoln  was  wrong  in  point  of  law  and92  that  he 
had  no  right  to  read  Congress  a  lecture.  Keen  to  defend 
the  right  of  Congress,93  he  said  that  it  was  also  a  mis- 

90  On  February  4,  he  replied  to  Collamer  of  Rhode  Island,  showing  that 
Madison  in  the  Federal  Convention  was  an  authority  against  war  being  made 
upon  a  State.     On  February  6,  the  Senate  voted  to  count  the  electoral  votes, 
but  the  House  would  not,  so  the  vote  failed. 

91  On  February  9. 

92  He  reflected  on  Congress,  as  he  did  in  his  comment  on  the  Davis- Wade 
bill. 

9S  On  February  7. 


IIO  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

take  for  Lincoln  to  sign  the  Thirteenth  Amendment,  for 
the  "object  of  the  constitutional  provision  on  the  sub 
ject  is  simply  to  initiate  a  mode,  by  which  the  people 
shall  decide  whether  there  shall  be  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  or  not."  The  two-third  vote  needed 
to  pass  the  amendment  is  the  same  as  that  required  to 
pass  a  bill  over  the  presidential  veto  and  it  is  "evident 
that  what  was  intended  to  be  submitted  to  the  Presi 
dent  was  a  question,  which  was  to  be  passed  upon  by 
more  votes  than  were  necessary,  before  it  was  sub 
mitted."  Previous  practice  and  an  opinion  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  in  1794  confirmed  his  opinion.94 

Financial  measures  did  not  cause  him  to  make  a  long 
speech  at  this  Session,95  but  he  spoke  several  times  upon 
the  internal  revenue  bill,  opposing  a  tax  on  State  bank 
notes96  and  a  graded  tax  on  incomes  to  pay  bounties.97 
He  opposed  a  tax  on  sales,  as  one  which  fell  ultimately 
on  the  consumer  and  which  was  odious,  because  a  govern 
ment  officer  would  have  to  go  monthly  into  each  busi 
ness  house.98 

He  favored,  however,99  a  tax  on  book  publishing,  as 
a  tax  not  on  knowledge,  but  on  business.  On  law  books, 

94  On  March  3,  he  said  that  an  answer  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Navy 
to  a  Senatorial  request  was  out  of  place,  again  showing  his  zeal  for  the  privilege 
of  the  body. 

95  On  December  21,  Johnson  said  that  the  principle  of  the  proposed  internal 
revenue  act  was  altogether  wrong  and  that  a  man  should  be  given  time  to 
straighten  out  the  whiskey  tax.    On  March  2,  he  remarked  that  fertilizers  should 
not  be  taxed  too  heavily,  for  such  tax  falls  on  the  agriculturists.     On  February 
28,  he  said  that  the  difference  between  the  nominal  and  the  market  value  of 
gold  should  be  considered  as  income  and  as  a  proper  profit,  but  that  a  man  who 
kept  the  gold  should  not  be  taxed  on  the  inflated  value. 

96  On  March  i . 

97  The  poor  man  had  no  right  to  say  to  the  rich,  pay  me  for  entering  the 
army.     On  February  7. 

*8  On  March  i . 
"On  February  27. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  III 

"it  comes  first  out  of  the  lawyers;  but,  perhaps,  it  comes 
out  of  the  client.  If  the  client  does  not  pay  it  in  advance, 
the  client  who  comes  next  pays  it.  I  speak  from  some 
little  experience."  So  long  as  American  consumers  are 
taxed  by  an  import  tax  on  imported  books,  it  is  not 
unjust  to  make  an  American  manufacturer  pay  for  the 
privilege.100 

On  January  19,  Johnson  delivered  a  long  legal  speech 
on  a  bill  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  States.  Pre 
viously,  it  had  been  admitted  that  the  State  had  exclu 
sive  control  over  internal  commerce,  but  Johnson  thought 
this  bill  limited  it.  The  power  to  establish  post  roads 
meant  only  to  designate  existing  roads,  not  to  build 
new  ones.  When,  in  1800,  the  Cumberland  road  was 
begun  to  be  built  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of 
public  lands,  it  was  claimed  that  Congress  could  appro 
priate  money  for  any  purpose  material  to  the  common 
defense  and  the  general  welfare.  Monroe,  however,  was 
right  in  his  veto  of  a  road  bill  in  1822,  saying  that  it 
was  not  an  independent  power.  The  only  guarantee 
against  an  abuse  of  the  appropriating  power  was  the 
appeal  to  the  people,  which  also  guarded  against  abuse 
of  the  taxing  power.101  Judge  McLean  denied  Congres 
sional  power  to  construct  the  Rock  Island  bridge  over 
navigable  water.  The  proposed  bill  alters  franchises  of 
railroads  and  denies  the  State  the  power  to  make  roads 
as  she  pleases,  since  it  permits  the  railroads  to  carry 

100  He  doubted  as  to  whether  bonds  and  notes  (on  March  i)  issued  under 
the  new  loan  bill  would  not  innate  the  currency  and  lower  the  standard  of  value 
still  more.     On  advocating  a  bill  for  repayment  of  $2,000  to  H.  A.  Bingham, 
a  paymaster,  who  had  to  pay  the  government  that  amount  which  had  dis 
appeared  while  in  his  custody,  Johnson  said,  on  January  19,   "Very  few  men 
think  of  counting  their  money.    I  am  one  of  the  reckless  ones  and  I  never  think 
of  it,  though  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  ever  been  taken  in." 

101  He  quoted  a  number  of  decisions. 


112  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

troops,  freight,  etc.  Maryland  is  a  quasi-corporator  of  the 
Washington  Branch  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
and  this  measure  involves  a  "principle  which  is  destruc 
tive  of  the  sovereignty"  of  the  States.  If  the  courts 
support  it,  the  authority  of  the  States  is  submitted  to 
the  unlimited  power  of  Congress. 

We  are  sent  here  to  take  care,  among  others,  of  the  rights 
of  our  States.  Our  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  not  merely  to  execute  all  the  powers  which 
it  confers,  but  to  abstain  from  exerting  any  powers  which  it  does 
not  confer,  ....  in  order  to  protect  the  inherent,  and 
original,  and  undelegated  powers  which  belonged  to  the 
States  before  the  Constitution  was  adopted.102 

When  the  Senators  from  Nevada  appeared,  Johnson 
advocated  their  admission  and  that  of  their  State,  al 
though  they  had  been  elected  in  advance  of  the  admis 
sion  of  the  State  into  the  Union,  following  the  precedent 
of  the  first  Senators  of  Missouri,  Michigan  and  Cali 
fornia.103 

In  discussing  the  legislative  appropriation  bill,  the 
question  of  the  amendment  of  money  bills  came  up 
and  Johnson  advocated  the  Senate's  using  its  utmost 
power,  referring  to  the  precedent  of  1856.  Sumner  re 
plied  that  this  precedent  was  of  no  value,  for  the  men 
who  made  it  were  rebels.  Johnson  replied :  "  They  were 
able  men  and  one  of  them,  Brodhead,  was  a  friend  of 
mine,  who  labored  for  the  Union  and,  in  professional 

102  On  District  of  Columbia  matters,  he  spoke  to  advocate  the  grant  of  a 
wharf  privilege  to  a  ferry  company  (on  January  17).  The  bed  of  the  river  is 
the  property  of  individual  owners,  who  hold  riparian  land;  but,  on  navigable 
streams,  no  one  has  a  right  to  go  to  the  thread  of  the  stream,  without  consent 
of  the  sovereign.  Similar  wharf  privilege  was  given  in  Baltimore.  He  opposed, 
in  vain,  the  visitation  of  the  institution  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  by  public  offi 
cials  (on  February  n.). 

108  On  February  i. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  113 

ability,  was  Sumner's  equal.  He  was  a  Democrat  always 
and  a  pure  patriot."  Sumner  could  only  respond:  "I 
shall  not  follow  Reverdy  Johnson."104 

Johnson's  devotion  to  friends  was  also  shown,  on 
February  23,  in  his  defence  of  Taney,  when  a  bust  of 
the  Chief  Justice  was  proposed  to  be  placed  in  the 
Supreme  Court.  Reference  to  this  defence  of  Taney's 
"great  ability  and  moral  worth"  has  been  elsewhere 
made.  Johnson  lost  his  temper  and  became  personal 
in  his  discussion  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  which  came 
into  the  debate.105  Elaine  wrote106  that  Johnson's  de 
fense  of  Taney  showed  "that  amplitude  and  readiness, 
which  Mr.  Johnson  displayed  in  every  discussion  involv 
ing  legal  principles." 

On  February  15,  Johnson  announced  that  his  colleague 
from  Maryland  had  died  on  the  I3th  at  7  a.m.  He  had 
been  paralyzed  on  the  day  before  and  lay  speechless 
but  conscious,  nearly  to  the  end.  Governor  Hicks,  "a 
title  by  which  he  is  best  known  and  will  be  ever  grate 
fully  remembered,  not  only  by  Maryland  but  by  the 
Nation,"  was  eulogized  by  Johnson  as  a  Christian, 
beloved  by  his  friends,  "ever  courteous,  kind,  and  atten 
tive,"  possessing  "the  esteem  and  confidence  of  us  all, 
endowed  with  a  sound  judgment  and  animated  by  a 
fervent  patriotism."107  As  Governor,  "his  responsi- 

104  On  February  10. 

106Trumbull,  McDougall,  Carlile  favored  the  motion  and  Sumner,  Hale, 
Wilson,  Wade  opposed  it.  Five  days  later,  Johnson  in  the  debate  on  the  cotton 
drawback  was  asked  to  speak  louder  and  said  that  objection  was  sometimes 
made  that  he  spoke  too  loud. 

106 Twenty  years  in  Congress  135. 

107  Thomas  Holliday  Hicks  was  born  in  Dorchester  County,  September  2, 
1798,  one  of  a  large  family  with  limited  means.  After  studying  in  the  common 
schools,  he  helped  his  father  on  the  farm.  Entering  public  life  as  a  constable 
in  1824,  he  next  became  sheriff  and  then  opened  a  store  at  Vienna.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Electoral  College  for  the  State  Senate  in  1836  and  "evinced 


114  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

bility  was  such  as  to  task  his  firmness  and  his  judgment 
and  to  test  his  patriotism.  They  proved  equal  to  this 
emergency."  The  people  of  the  State,  for  a  time,  forgot 

the  paramount  duty,  which  they  owed  to  the  General  Govern 
ment  ....  In  this  interval  of  temporary  forgetful- 
ness,  an  excitement  amounting  to  madness  threatened  the 
State  with  a  fraternal  war  and  with  driving  her  into  the  rebel 
lion,  that  would  have  made  her  soil  the  battleground  of  the 
strife  which  has  deluged  every  seceding  State  in  blood  and 
would  certainly  have  involved  her  in  ruin.  Against  every 
effort  that  ignorance  or  ambition  could  essay  to  effect  the 
insane  and  wicked  purpose,  Governor  Hicks  interposed  the 
whole  power  of  his  office  and  succeeded  in  defeating  it.  Nor 
was  this  accomplished  without  personal  peril.  In  April,  1861, 
when  the  blood  of  the  loyal  soldiers  of  Massachusetts  was 
treasonably  shed  in  the  streets  of  our  chief  city  and  its  power 
for  some  days  was  wielded  by  men  who  for  the  most  part 
were  resolved  on  rushing  the  State  into  rebellion,  it  was  obvious, 
to  those  who  witnessed  the  scenes  of  the  day  and  moved  among 
the  parties  who  engaged  in  them,  that  Governor  Hicks  was  an 
object  of  such  intense  animosity,  that  his  safety  was  not  as 
sured In  these  trying  moments,  the  Governor 

was  true  to  his  duty.  Throughout  his  term  of  office,  he  devoted 
himself  with  untiring  industry  and  an  ever  watchful  patriotism, 
by  every  legal  means,  to  crush  out  the  spirit  of  secession  and 
to  retain  the  State  in  her  allegiance  to  the  Union  and  he  suc 
ceeded.  When  he  ceased  to  be  her  Governor,  she  was  loyal 
in  all  the  departments  of  her  government  and  the  people,  by 
a  voice  approaching  unanimity,  proclaimed  their  fixed  resolve 
to  stand  by  the  Union,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  almost  holy 
duty,  but  as  indispensable  to  their  safety  and  prosperity  and 

an  inherent  love  of  law  and  order."  He  then  served  in  the  Governor's  Council, 
as  Member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  as  Register  of  Wills  in  his  County,  and 
as  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1850.  He  was  chosen  Governor 
on  the  Know  Nothing  ticket  in  1859  and,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  term,  became 
United  States  Senator. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  115 

so  she  and  they  have  been  ever  since.  It  is  not  going  too  far 
to  declare  that  this  result  is  in  a  great  measure  to  be  referred 
to  the  conduct  of  Governor  Hicks.108 

When  Lincoln  was  assassinated,  Johnson  served  as 
one  of  the  pallbearers109  on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  but 
a  month  later,  on  May  13,  he  appeared  without  com 
pensation  as  one  of  the  counsel  for  Mrs.  Surratt,  who 
was  tried  by  military  commission  for  complicity  in  the 
murder  of  the  President.  He  had  never  seen  Mrs. 
Surratt  until  the  day  before  his  appearance  for  her,  but 
said  he  felt  it  was  due  to  the  legal  profession  that  she 
should  not  go  undefended.110  His  appearance  was  ob 
jected  to,  on  the  ground  that  he  did  "not  recognize  the 
moral  obligation  of  an  oath  that  is  designed  as  a  test  of 
loyalty."  Johnson  repudiated  the  charge,  which  was 
based  on  his  letter  with  reference  to  the  Maryland  elec 
tions  of  1864.  Although  allowed  to  appear,  he  was 
present  only  at  rare  intervals  throughout  the  trial  and 
sent  in  his  final  written  argument  to  be  read  by  his 
junior  associate,  denying  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court 
and  asserting  the  illegality  of  military  commissions  in 
the  United  States.  He  did  not  seek  immunity  for  any- 

108  Senator  Hale  added  that  Hicks  was  second  to  none  on  the  proud  roll  of 
fame,  "of  those  by  whose  clear  sagacity,  unshaken  firmness,  and  patriotic 
devotion  to  duty  in  a  great  crisis  of  our  country's  history,  her  integrity  was 
preserved  and  her  ultimate  triumph  secured."    Hale  had  served  on  the  Naval 
Affairs  Committee  with  Hicks  and  had  "never  met  a  more  kind,  genial  and 
courteous  gentleman."     He  preferred  to  have  his  own  people  abolish  slavery 
and  was  an  antislavery  man.     Willey  of  West  Virginia  voiced  the  gratitude  of 
his  State  and  said:  "I  never  knew  a  man  whose  simplicity  and  singleness  of 
purpose,  whose  evident  sincerity,  purity  and  unselfishness  of  aim  to  promote 
the  honor  and  welfare  of  his  country,  commanded  more  of  my  confidence  and 

respect He  ever  appeared  to  forget  himself  in  the  higher  and 

holier  purpose  of  securing  the  public  good." 

109  War  of  Rebellion  Off.  Recs.  Serial  97,  Ser.  i,  Vol.  46,  pt.  3,  p.  807. 

110  Vide  DeWitt   Judicial  Murder  of  Mrs.  Surratt,  pp.  41,  73,  85,  and  T, 
M.  Harris's  Assassination  of  Lincoln,  pp.  107,  in,  327. 


Il6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

one  guilty  of  the  "horrid  crimes,"  but  claimed  that  the 
trial  should  proceed  before  the  civil  courts.111 

In  his  argument,  Johnson  declared  that  he  believed 
the  evidence  against  Mrs.  Surratt  was  suspicious  and 
that  she  was  innocent  of  the  assassination,  which  "in 
the  black  catalogue  of  offences  ....  will  for 
ever  be  esteemed  the  darkest  and  deepest  ever  committed 
by  sinful  man."  For  such  a  commission  to  have  juris 
diction,  a  military  offence  must  be  made  to  appear,  the 
offender  must  be  subject  to  military  law,  and  the  mili 
tary  law  must  provide  for  trial  and  punishment  by  a 
military  tribunal.  These  circumstances  were  not  found 
here  and  the  commission  could  not  be  justified  as  an 
incident  of  the  war  power,  for  the  creation  of  a  court 
is  a  legislative  function  and  the  President  cannot  sus 
pend  courts,  as  he  can  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The 
case  is  not  military  treason,  as  the  accused  were  not,  in 
the  belligerent  sense,  enemies.  The  "continuance  of 
our  government  does  not  depend  on  the  lives  of  any 
or  all  of  its  public  servants"  and  the  "folly  of  the  mad 
man  and  the  fiend"  in  killing  Lincoln  will  not  destroy  the 
nation.  In  England,  persons  who  tried  to  assassinate 
the  monarch  have  been  tried  by  the  civil  tribunals.112 

Following  out  a  similar  line  of  argument,  Johnson 
appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  Ex  parte  Milligan 
and  there  won  his  case.  He  also  acted  with  Matthew 
Carpenter  and  A.  H.  Garland,  at  the  request  of  the 
latter,  in  Ex  parte  Garland,  in  which  case  the  ex  post 
facto  oath  was  declared  unconstitutional.113  In  July 
1865,  Garland,  who  had  been  admitted  to  the  Supreme 
Court  on  Johnson's  motion  in  1860,  came  to  Washington 

111  His  argument  was  printed  at  Baltimore  in  pamphlet  form  in  1865,  pp.  31. 

112  H.  L.  Bond  and  Peckham  of  N.  Y.  were  against  him. 
118  Vide  Garland's  Experiences  in  the  Supreme  Court. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  117 

and  procured  a  pardon,  in  which  application  he  was 
seconded  by  the  "efforts  of  my  constant  and  steady 
friend"  Johnson,  the  "big  hearted,  large  brained  and 
generous  man  and  friend."  During  that  visit  to  the 
national  capital,  Garland  formed  the  idea  of  asking  to 
be  admitted  to  practice,  notwithstanding  the  test  oath, 
and  Johnson  gladly  aided  him  without  any  fee,114  being 
interested  in  the  case  both  from  its  constitutional  aspect 
and  from  his  friendship  for  the  younger  man.  B.  R. 
Curtis  expressed  himself  as  satisfied  of  the  soundness  of 
Johnson's  argument  against  the  test  oath115  and  added, 
"certainly,  it  is  put  with  great  clearness  and  force  before 
the  Court."  About  the  same  time,  Johnson,  with  Mont 
gomery  Blair  and  David  Dudley  Field,  was  successful 
in  the  Supreme  Court  in  defending  a  Roman  Catholic 
priest,  named  Cummings,  who  had  preached  in  Missouri, 
without  taking  the  iron  clad  oath.116 

114  Speed  and  Stansberry  were  the  opposing  lawyers. 
115 1  B.  R.  Curtis  Life  370,  July  8,  1866. 
"•Vide  Cox,  Three  Decades  251. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE     THIRTY-NINTH     CONGRESS     AND      RECONSTRUCTION 

(1865-67) 

In  this  great  Congress,  Johnson's  career  was  most 
conspicuous.  Sitting  on  the  right  of  the  Vice-President's 
Chair  and  in  the  row  of  seats  nearest  his  desk,  Johnson 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  the  house.1 
He  was  "perhaps  the  most  eminent  lawyer  in  a  body, 
where  legal  ability  always  commands  much  respect,2 
and  he  showed  that  his  mind  had  lost  none  of  its  force 
and  power,  though  he  was  now  about  seventy  years  of 
age.  He  was  the  oldest  member  of  the  body,  in  years, 
if  not  in  service,  and  his  conciliatory  disposition  and 
friendly  relations  with  all  the  members  did  much  to  in 
crease  the  efficiency  of  his  leadership  of  the  minority. 
Hon.  George  H.  Williams  of  Oregon,  one  of  the  last  sur 
vivors  of  the  Senators  who  served  with  Johnson,  wrote 
thus  of  him  on  May  9,  1906: 

1  was  admitted  to  practise  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson  and  was 
with  him  in  the   Senate.     Mr.   Johnson  was  an   exceedingly 
amiable  and  accomplished  gentleman,  a  lawyer  observing  the 
dignity  of  the  Senate  and  the  civilities  of  social  intercourse. 
He  was  a  great  lawyer  and  had  a  remarkable  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  decisions  of  the  Courts  at  his  command.     He 
was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the  Senate  and  a   ready   debater 

1 W.  H.  Barnes,  History  of  the  Thirty-Ninth  Congress,  p.  24.    An  engraving 
of  Johnson  is  opposite  p.  203. 

2  W.  G.  Brown,  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  97  Atlantic  Monthly  466.     At  p. 
473,  Brown  writes  "So  long  as  the  discussion  concerned  itself  with  theory," 
Johnson  "could  hold  his  own  with  Fessenden  and  Trumbull.     He  could  more 
than  hold  his  own  with  Sumner,  who  was  never  strong  on  legal  questions." 

118 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 19 

upon  almost  all  the  questions  that  arose  in  that  body.  He 
was  a  Democrat  and  I  was  a  Republican  and,  consequently, 
we  did  not  agree  upon  most  of  the  subjects  growing  out  of 
the  Reconstruction  policy  of  Congress  and  other  party  ques 
tions,  but  there  was  nothing  in  these  differences  to  disturb  our 
personal  relations.  I  had  an  impression  of  Mr.  Johnson  that 
he  was  not  a  man  of  very  strong  convictions  and  that  he  could 
speak  with  equal  readiness  and  facility  upon  one  side  of  a 
question,  as  upon  the  other,  and  that  he  was  not  very  particu 
lar  as  to  which  side  he  espoused.  I  may  have  misjudged  him 
in  this  respect,  but  such  was  my  impression.  He  was  particu 
larly  at  home  upon  all  constitutional  and  legal  questions  and 
always  brought  learning,  ability,  and  skill  to  the  discussion 
of  such  questions.  He  was  quite  blind,  while  he  was  in  the 
Senate  and  had  to  depend  largely  upon  his  memory,  which  was 
evidently  a  storehouse  full  of  the  learning  of  the  law. 

On  reconstruction,  Johnson's  policy  consistently  fav 
ored  restoration  of  the  Southern  States  with  amnesty 
to  their  citizens.  He  cited  the  proceedings  of  all  depart 
ments  of  the  government  during  the  war  and  of  the  judi 
cial  and  executive  departments  later,  as  proving  that 
States  were  not  out  of  the  Union.  The  citizens'  dis 
loyalty  could  not  carry  the  States  with  them  and,  at 
the  moment  when  resistance  was  abandoned,  the  author 
ity  of  the  United  States  was  reinstated.  When  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  was  presented,  Johnson  op 
posed  it,  although  he  favored  certain  provisions  in  it, 
as  he  thought  there  ought  to  be  a  constitutional  defini 
tion  of  citizenship  in  the  United  States  and  believed  that 
negroes  would  be  citizens,  but  for  the  decision  in  the  Dred 
Scott  case.  He  held  that  the  phrase,  "All  men  are  cre 
ated  equal,"  included  negroes,  but  that  only  a  juristic 
equality  was  meant  and  that  political  and  social  equality 
should  be  excluded.  He  believed  in  the  possibilities 
of  the  negro,  but  opposed  granting  him  the  suffrage,  at 


I2O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

present,  or  the  deprivation  of  representation  from  the 
Southern  States,  on  the  ground  that  negroes  did  not 
vote  there.  He  believed  negroes  should  be  counted  in  for 
representative  purposes,  as  women  were.  Suffrage,  he 
thought,  was  not  an  inalienable  right,  but  a  privilege, 
which,  the  government  may  grant  or  withhold.  Leave 
the  black  man  without  suffrage,  "  until  he  can  raise 
himself  to  the  elevation  of  the  white  race,  as  I  think  he 
may,  and  then,  if  possible,  change  your  organic  law." 

Johnson  favored  Andrew  Johnson's3  presidential  plan 
of  reconstruction,  but  was  not  closely  connected  with  the 
President,  nor  was  a  blind  follower  of  him.  He  was  the 
only  representative  of  the  minority  in  the  Senate  in 
the  Committee  of  Fifteen  on  Reconstruction  and,  as 
the  leader  of  that  minority  in  the  Senate,  had  to  defend 
several  of  the  President's  vetoes.  The  power  of  removal 
by  the  President  was  vigorously  upheld  by  Johnson  and 
he  especially  emphasized  the  folly  of  requiring  the  Presi 
dent  to  keep  in  office,  as  heads  of  departments,  men 
who  no  longer  had  his  confidence. 

On  December  12,  Johnson  was  appointed  one  of  the 
six  members  of  the  joint  committee  on  reconstruction 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate.  During  the  first  week  of  (he 
Session,  Mr.  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  introduced  a  bill 
for  the  protection  of  freedmen4  and  Johnson  replied  to 
him,  asking  that  the  bill  be  referred  to  a  committee. 
The  bill  proposed  to  repeal  laws  by  which  any  difference 
or  inequality  was  created  between  races.  Does  this 
affect  police  laws?  If  the  Southern  States  are  in  the 

3 On  April  24,  1865,  Reverdy  Johnson  wrote  Andrew  Johnson:  "It  will  be 
my  pleasure,  as  I  think  it  will  be  my  duty,  to  afford  your  administration,  as  I 
anticipate  it  will  be,  all  the  support  in  my  power  (Century  Magazine,  January, 
1913,  Vol.  85,  p.  423). 

4  In  a  debate  on  pension  laws  on  April  13  and  May  18,  he  referred  to  the 
difficulty  of  ascertaining  who  was  a  negro's  wife. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  121 

Union,  they  may  pass  such  laws.  Is  there  a  more  press 
ing  need  to  prevent  outrages  on  blacks  in  the  South  than 
in  the  loyal  States?  Crimes  are  committed  even  in 
Massachusetts.  He  was  glad  that  the  blacks  were  free 
and  took  the  occasion  to  express  his  "very  decided  opin 
ion,"  which  he  had  always  held,  that  the  Southern  States 
are  in  the  Union  "and  that  they  never  could  have  been 
placed  out  of  the  Union,  without  the  consent  of  their  sis 
ter  States.  The  insurrection  terminated,  the  authority 
of  the  government  was  thereby  reinstated;  eo  instanti 
they  were  invested  with  all  the  rights  belonging  to  them 
individually,  I  mean  as  States."  The  "sole  authority" 
for  the  Congressional  acts  of  the  war  period  was  the 
authority  to  "suppress  insurrection."  He  praised  An 
drew  Johnson's  message,  which  took  the  same  view. 
Having  conversed  with  many  of  the  rebel  leaders,  he 
found  "they  are  now  as  anxious  to  return,  as  in  their  in 
sanity  they  were  anxious  to  leave  us." 

For  the  care  of  the  freedmen,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau 
had  been  established  on  March  3, 1865,  and,  as  it  was  found 
that  the  original  act  did  not  go  far  enough,  Trumbull 
introduced,  from  the  judiciary  committee,  a  supplemen 
tary  act  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Bureau.  Johnson  at 
once  suggested  delay  and,  on  January  23,  expressed 
himself  as  anxious  to  provide  for  the  freedmen,  but  as 
doubtful  of  the  power  of  Congress,  especially  as  to  the 
proposal  to  authorize  the  Bureau  to  go  into  the  States 
and  buy  lands  for  the  freedmen.  The  United  States  can 
buy  lands  for  the  arsenals,  etc.,  but  not  for  this  purpose. 
Slavery  having  been  abolished,  the  negroes  stand  on  the 
same  footing  as  the  whites  and,  if  there  be  authority  to 
provide  for  the  black,  it  is  because  he  is  a  citizen,  and  so 
we  may  clothe  and  educate  all  citizens,  though  the  project 
of  a  national  university  had  been  set  aside  because  of 


122  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

supposed  lack  of  power.  The  nation  cannot  buy  lands 
for  philanthropic  purposes.  He  had  no  partisan  objection 
and  thanked  God  that  the  rebellion  had  been  suppressed 
as  he  had  desired,  but  he  must  keep  within  the  Con 
stitution.  Suppose  that  part  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were 
bought  up  for  this  purpose.  "Do  you  believe  that 
'Maryland'  would  be  satisfied  to  have  that  portion  of 
our  State,  one  of  the  fairest  portions  upon  the  face  of 
the  globe,  capable  of  producing  almost  an  unlimited 
amount,  not  only  of  the  necessaries,  but  of  the  luxuries 
of  life,  put  into  the  hands  of  the  blacks  exclusively?" 
Trouble  would  surely  follow,  though  Johnson  believed 
negroes  were  as  safe  in  Maryland  as  in  Massachusetts. 

Heaven  knows,  I  have  no  prejudice  against  the  race.  Brought 
up  among  them,  associating  with  them  in  boyhood  and  since, 
giving  to  them  and  receiving  from  them  acts  of  kindness,  I 
have  no  possible  prejudice  against  them,  but  still  I  know  that 
nature  has  made  them  so  distinct  from  our  race  that,  with  the 
mass  of  mankind,  there  will  be  and  perhaps  must  be  more  or 
less  of  prejudice,  more  or  less  of  unwillingness  on  the  part  of 

the  whites  to  be  associated  with  the  blacks I 

believe  that  they  are  capable  of  as  much  a  high  civilization  as 
the  white  race.  I  have  seen  as  much  native  talent  exhibited 
in  the  black  race  as  I  have  seen  exhibited  in  the  white  race 
and  I  believe  ....  they  will  ere  long  become  valuable 
citizens  of  the  country. 

He  felt  that  "  slave  labor  cannot  ....  com 
pete  with  free  labor."  Creswell,  Johnson's  radical  col 
league,  spoke  of  outrages  on  the  Eastern  Shore  for  the 
purpose  of  driving  refugees  and  freedmen  from  Maryland, 
alleging  that  juries  were  summoned  by  rebel  sheriffs 
and  were  composed  mostly  of  the  very  worst  rebels. 
Johnson  replied,  in  tone  of  apology,  claiming  that  the 
outrages  are  exceptions  and  saying  that  he  "once  took 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  123 

an  active  part  in  a  movement  to  prevent  the  exiling  of 
free  blacks  from  Maryland"  and  so  had  a  right  to  speak. 
It  was  largely  through  Creswell's  insistence  that  the 
bill  originally  drafted  for  the  States  in  rebellion  was 
amended  to  extend  to  the  whole  Union;5  but  Johnson, 
insisting  that  there  was  no  more  need  of  applying  the 
law  in  Maryland  than  in  Massachusetts,  read  from 
Governor  Swann's  speech,  refusing  to  endorse  Creswell, 
and  from  letters  written  by  members  of  the  Maryland 
Senate,  stating  that  a  man  was  killed  in  a  drunken  broil 
in  Worcester  County  who,  Creswell  said,  had  been  ruth 
lessly  murdered  by  a  rebel  soldier. 

The  cognate  civil  rights  bill,  also  introduced  by 
Trumbull,  was  opposed  by  Johnson,  as  beyond  the  power 
of  Congress,  although  he  patriotically  tried  to  amend  it 
to  make  it  as  free  from  objections  as  possible.  The 
bill  proposed  to  define  citizenship.  Johnson  went  out 
of  his  way  to  say  that,  since  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  a 
person  of  African  descent  was  not  a  citizen ;  for,  on  that 
point,  the  opinion  dealt  with  an  essential  matter,  even 
though  what  was  said  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  might 
be  obiter.  If  it  were  not  for  the  ruling  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  he  should  hold  that  the  negroes  were  citizens,  even 
when  slavery  existed.  Johnson  was  anxious  to  get  a  good 
constitutional  definition  of  citizenship  and  also  to  pro 
tect  the  colored  race  in  all  proper  rights,  but  this  bill 
proposed  to  sweep  away  the  police  power.  An  act  made 
obnoxious  to  the  whole  community,  like  the  fugitive 
slave  law,  is  of  no  practical  importance,  because  it  is  a 
dead  letter.  Some  States  forbade  intermarriage  of 
negroes  and  whites  and  this  law  would  destroy  all  State 
power  in  the  matter.  What  will  be  the  standing  of  In 
dians,  who  are  wards  of  the  United  States?  Lane  of 

5  February  S. 


124  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Kansas  said  that  Indians  in  his  State  had  already  taken 
allotments  of  lands.  Johnson  admitted  that  those  who  had 
separated  themselves  from  their  tribes  ought  to  be  citi 
zens,  but  if  their  citizenship  does  not  date  from  birth, 
it  does  not  come  from  buying  land,  but  will  require 
Congressional  legislation.  Congress  may  admit  to  citi 
zenship  foreign  subjects  in  annexed  territories  and  has 
done  so.  It  is  "  an  anomaly  that  says  there  shall  not  be 
the  rights  of  citizenship  to  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  any 
State."  Trumbull  had  used  the  word  "inhabitant" 
in  the  bill,6  and  Johnson  pointed  out  that  he  had  made  it 
thus  impossible  for  any  State  "to  draw  any  distinction 
between  citizens,  who  have  been  there  from  birth,  or 
have  been  residents  for  a  long  time,  and  him  who  comes 
into  the  State  now  for  the  first  time  as  a  foreigner.  He 
becomes  at  once  an  inhabitant.  If  he  comes  from  Eng 
land,  or  from  any  of  the  countries  of  the  world,  he  be 
comes  that  moment  an  inhabitant;  and  if  this  bill  is  to 
pass  in  the  shape  it  stands,  he  can  buy,  he  can  sell,  he 
can  hold,  he  can  inherit  and  be  inherited  from,  and  possess 
all  the  rights  of  a  native  born  citizen,"  without  being 
naturalized.  Johnson  held  that  the  phrase,  "all  men 
are  created  equal,"  covered  negroes,  for  it  was  idle  to 
deny  that  a  negro  is  a  person,  in  many  respects  the  same 
as  a  white,  though  his  intellectual  capacity  may  be  less.7 
He  moved  to  strike  out,  "without  distinction  of  color," 
from  the  definition  of  citizenship  in  the  bill,  as  he  was  anx 
ious  to  do  away  with  all  questions  involving  rights  which 
may  be  supposed  to  exist  in  one  race  and  not  in  the  other. 
The  bill  was  passed  and  vetoed  by  President  Johnson. 
In  the  debate  which  preceded  the  passage  of  the  bill  over 
the  veto,  Johnson  delivered  an  important  speech  on 

6  Vide  2  Elaine  174. 

7  On  February  i . 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  125 

April  5.  He  defended  warmly  the  veto  power,  which 
was  given  to  guard  the  executive  department,  the  States, 
and  the  citizens  against  encroachments  by  the  legisla 
tive  department  and  against  inexpedient  and  ill-con 
sidered  legislation.  The  President  has  a  right  to  veto 
a  bill  on  the  grounds  of  expediency,  as  well  as  of  consti 
tutionality,  as  Madison  said  in  the  Federalist,  although 
the  Whigs  had  held  otherwise  in  Jackson's  times.  An 
drew  Johnson  in  1860  had  merely  said  that,  when  a  bill 
was  passed  by  a  large  majority,  great  caution  was  neces 
sary  in  vetoing  it.  This  was  not  a  declaratory  act,  but 
one  which  changed  the  whole  theory  of  government. 
The  bill  struck  at  all  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States. 
If  Congress  can  so  legislate  as  to  blacks,  the  same  may 
be  done  as  to  whites  and  the  States  are  virtually  abolished. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  general  government  to  protect  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  where  that  protection  cannot  be 
obtained  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  States,  but  where 
the  rights  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  given  by  State 
laws  over  subjects  intrusted  exclusively  to  State  legislation, 
it  is  the  exclusive  business  of  the  State  to  protect  them. 

This  law,  which  invaded  the  jurisdiction  of  the  States 
over  their  criminal  code,  is  based  on  the  "  perilous  de 
lusion"  that  "the  sooner  everything  is  vested  in  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  the  better  for  the  coun 
try/'  Under  this  theory,  the  government  will  not  last 
half  a  century,  for  anarchy  and  then  despotic  power  would 
result.  The  only  constitutional  authority  for  Congress  to 
confer  citizenship  is  found  in  the  naturalization  clause, 
which  was  designed  to  remove  disabilities  arising  from 
the  fact  of  alienage.  The  bill  wrongfully  attempts  to 
make  all  persons  born  in  the  United  States  citizens  there 
of  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside,  but  the  true  view 


126  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

is  that  every  free  person  born  in  a  State,  who  is  a 
citizen  of  that  State,  is  also  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  that  is  to  say,  birth  plus  State  citizenship 
equals  federal  citizenship.  The  States  exclusively  pos 
sess  the  power  to  say  what  persons  shall  be  citizens. 
"A  country  as  extensive  as  that  of  the  United  States 
cannot  exist,  except  by  means  of  divided  sover 
eignties."  "  Removal  of  the  disabilities  under  the  nat 
uralization  laws  did  not  create  the  party  a  citizen  of 
any  one  State.  Congress  can  only  accomplish  its  pur 
pose  by  constitutional  amendment.  The  bill  provided 
that  any  judge  who  shall  hold  this  law  unconstitutional 
and  a  State  law  to  be  in  force,  in  spite  of  this  law,  shall 
be  punished  and  thus  "usurps  a  power,  inconsistent 
with  the  independence  and  integrity  of  the  State  judi 
ciary."  The  President  is  correct  in  saying  that  it  is 
not  right  to  change  the  whole  domestic  economy  of 
eleven  States,  as  this  bill  does,  in  the  absence  of  their 
representatives.  It  is  not  their  fault  that  they  are  not 
here.  They  have  organized  and  await  Congressional  leg 
islation.  The  executive  and  the  judiciary  depart 
ments  recognize  these  States.  "We  alone  stand  in  the 
way  of  a  complete  restoration."  Irrespective  of  party 
considerations,  what  can  harm  us  from  their  presence. 
The  rights  of  black  men  are  as  safe  in  the  South  as  in  the 
North.  Many  disloyal  men  can  be  found  in  Illinois, 
if  disloyalty  is  proven  by  want  of  confidence  in  Congress. 
Indeed  Lincoln  himself  advocated  secession  in  1848. 
Andrew  Johnson's  career,  as  held  by  Trumbull,  "a 
gentleman  who  stands  at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  America 
at  this  time,  "has  been  thoroughly  loyal  and  not  inconsist 
ent. 

On  January    n,   Johnson  replied   to  Senator  T.   O. 
Howe  of  Wisconsin  upon  the  subject  of  the  Provisional 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 27 

Governments  of  the  Southern  States.8  S.  S.  Cox9  was 
much  impressed  by  this  speech  of  the  "sturdy  and  fervid 
Mary  lander,"  "with  venerable  English  form"  and  "ex 
pressive  mouth."  The  "cunning  of  fence  and  the  cour 
age  of  conviction  of  the  Marylander  were  resistless"  and 
"his  elocution,  albeit  trained  in  the  solemn  hush  and 
seclusiveness  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  loud,  orotund 
and  defiant."  Howe  had  maintained  that  the  war  had 
reduced  the  seceding  States  to  the  condition  of  terri 
tories  and  Johnson  reiterated,  in  his  reply,  his  old  posi 
tion  that  the  nation  can  not  war  upon  a  State,  but  can 
suppress  insurrection. 

It  was  a  police  power,  given  to  Congress  as  such,  not  a  power, 
under  which,  by  any  possible  mode  in  which  it  could  be  exer 
cised,  any  conquest,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  was  to 
be  achieved,  not  a  power  by  which  there  was  to  be  extinguished 
any  existing  institution  in  any  one  of  the  States,  and,  above  all, 
not  a  power  to  destroy  a  State  or  States. 

The  Federalist  and  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Prize  Cases  were  cited  in  confir 
mation  of  Johnson's  view  that  the  "power  actually 
given  was  a  power  to  preserve,  not  to  destroy,"  to  make 
the  government  perpetual.  It  seemed  to  him  to  follow 
that  a  continued  use  of  the  police  power  was  "a  simple 
absurdity,"  when  an  insurrection  is  suppressed  and  the 
condition  which  required  resort  to  that  power  was  at  an 
end.  If  the  ordinances  of  secession  were  void,  they 
could  not  take  States  out  of  the  Union.  "If  the  citi 
zens  had  not  a  right  to  be  disloyal,  their  disloyalty  could 
not  put  them  out"  and  they  always  were  in  the  Union. 

8  On  December  19,  he  spoke  in  favor  of  printing  Carl  Schurz's  report  on 
conditions  in  the  South. 

9  Three  decades  of  Federal  Legislation  354. 


128  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Lincoln's  proclamations  in  1861  spoke  of  "the  insurrec 
tion."  The  United  States  now  collect  customs  in  the 
Southern  ports  under  laws  passed  antecedent  to  the  re 
bellion.  The  Sea  Islands  had  been  sold  to  pay  for  South 
Carolina's  direct  tax.  District  attorneys  and  marshals 
had  been  appointed  in  the  South,  yet,  by  the  Supreme 
Court's  decision,10  the  judicial  system  would  not  extend 
to  it,  if  the  States  had  become  territories.  The  Supreme 
Court,  even  during  the  war,  allotted  judges  to  the  rebel 
States.  The  Federal  authority  conquered,  "in  the  name 
of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States," 
and  declared 

to  the  insurgents  this  is  your  constitution  and  your  laws  and 
you  are  bound  by  them,  as  you  were  before  you  attempted  to 
resist  their  authority.  ......  We  said  that,  notwith 
standing  their  acts  of  secession  and  hostility,  they  were  still 
States  and  their  citizens  were  bound  to  obey  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States.  They  denied  this  and  we  won, 
but  have  gained  what  may  scarce!}'  be  called  a  victory,  if  we 
have  put  down  an  insurrection  and  have  lost  States  in  so  doing. 

If  the  secession  ordinances  had  any  validity,  the  "war 
upon  our  part  has  been  a  great  crime."  If  the  "Consti 
tution  confers  no  right  of  separation,"  the  ordinances 
were  void  and  separation  can  not  be  "effected  by  the 
conduct  of  the  individual  citizens."  Every  man  in  the  in 
surrection  was  a  traitor,  whether  he  can  now  be  presented 
for  treason  or  not,  and  he  is  still  a  traitor,  if  he  attempted 
to  resist  by  arms  one  hour  before  hostilities  terminated, 
since  "he  was  then  and  is  still  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States."  The  result  did  not  depend  on  the  number  of 
citizens  in  insurrection.  "The  offence  of  these  citizens 
was  a  refusal  to  participate  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

10  Canter  v.  Am.  Ins.  Co. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 29 

The  proposition  is  that  that  refusal  has  put  them  in  a  con 
dition,  in  which  they  "have  no  right  to  participate  in 
such  councils  and  cannot  participate,  unless  we,  here 
after,  at  any  time  when,  in  our  judgment,  we  may 
think  proper,  give  them  the  right."  Yet  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  the  statutes  authorized  the  President  to 
collect  revenue  on  shipboard  off  the  ports  of  the  seceded 
States  and  to  declare  a  state  of  insurrection  there,  where 
upon  commercial  intercourse  should  cease,  "so  long 
as  such  condition  of  hostility  continue."  Castine  and 
part  of  Maine  were  seized  by  the  British  during  the  war 
of  1812,  but,  "the  moment  the  place  was  abandoned,  the 
authority  of  the  United  States  became  reinstated  proprio 
vigor en  .  .  .  .  It  revived  just  as  animal  life  revives 
in  certain  cases,  after  temporary  suspension."  This 
remarkable  speech  closed  with  the  expression  of  hope  for 
harmony  and  prosperity.12 

In  January,  Mr.  Elaine  proposed  in  the  House  a  reso 
lution  which  developed  into  the  provision  of  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  in  reference  to  citizenship  and  the  ap 
portionment  of  representation.  The  amendment  passed 
the  House  in  the  latter  part  of  the  month  and  in  the 
debate  upon  it  in  the  Senate  on  February  9,  Johnson 
spoke  at  length  in  opposition  to  granting  negroes  suffrage. 
Under  the  old  mode  of  ascertaining  representation  in 
Congress,  the  country  had  "prospered  wonderfully," 
except  only  during  "the  four  years  through  which  we 
have  so  sadly  but  triumphantly  passed."  There  are  no 
longer  slaves  and  "we  all  stand  upon  the  same  platform. 
As  we  came  from  Nature's  God,  we  stand  together  upon 

11  U.  S.  v.  Rice  4  Wheaton. 

12  On  January  26,  he  asked  Howe  whether  a  Senator,  once  admitted  to  the 
Senate,  can  be  expelled  on  the  ground  that  his  State  is  not  a  member  of  the 
Union. 


I3O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

an  equality,  as  far  as  related  to  human  rights.  The 
proposed  disqualification  is  a  safe  one  for  New  England, 
which  had  few  blacks;  but  if  Maryland  makes  a  different 
qualification  for  her  171,000  blacks,  all  of  them  are  de 
ducted.  Are  you  afraid  of  the  power  of  the  South?  We 
had  believed  that  Maryland  possessed  a  republican 
government.  The  States  will  not  admit  the  right  of 
Federal  government  to  regulate  suffrage  within  their  own 
limits."  Sumner  said  that  the  civil  rights  bill  had  been 
passed,  can  not  the  same  be  done  as  to  political  rights? 
Johnson  replied  that  he  considered  that  the  earlier  bill 
was  unconstitutional.  "I  had  hoped  that  the  time  had 
passed  when  we  were  to  esteem  ourselves  a  different 
people.  Our  fathers  esteemed  us  as  one."  Northern 
States  have  just  voted  against  negro  suffrage,  yet  the 
effect  on  them  is  nothing,  compared  to  what  it  would  be 
in  Maryland  and  the  South.  The  negro  should  be  left 
without  suffrage  to  educate  himself,  "until  he  can  raise 
himself  to  the  elevation  of  the  white  race,  as  I  think  he 
may,  and  then,  if  possible,  change  your  organic  law." 
Racial  distinctions  come  from  God.  By  the  proposed 
amendments,  Maryland's  tax  is  increased,  as  the  blacks 
are  free,  and  yet  representation  is  reduced.  Kirkwood, 
who  had  been  born  in  Maryland,  asked  why  negroes 
should  be  counted,  if  they  could  not  vote,  and  Johnson 
replied  that  he  followed  Madison,  in  saying  that  the 
right  of  suffrage  and  of  representation  were  distinct. 
Negroes  should  be  counted,  for  the  same  reason  as  women 
and  children  who  are  protected  by  the  State.  The  edu 
cational  qualification  for  suffrage  in  Massachusetts 
proves  that  there  is  no  inalienable  right  to  vote,  but  that 
the  question  is  one  of  governmental  discretion.  We 
want  amity  now,  as  in  1774,  when  every  Southern 
State  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  Massachusetts.  The  South 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  13! 

was  not  wholly  to  blame  for  the  war.  "  Although  the 
treason  was  culminated  into  actual  perpetration  by  the 
South,  it  never  could  have  occurred,  but  for  the  misjudged 
conduct  of  the  North."  Johnson  labored  to  ''defeat 
the  parricidal  effort  to  destroy  the  government,"  but  now 
he  longed  for  peace.  Lincoln  had  once  used  words,  as  if 
he  believed  in  the  right  to  secede,  and  so  had  Jefferson 
in  the  Kentucky  resolves,  "a  terrible  document,  a  mis 
chievous  document."  States  once  admitted  are  in  the 
Union  forever,  as  far  as  Congress  is  concerned.  The 
Southern  States  have  reorganized  themselves  and  their 
representatives  should  be  received.  The  Supreme  Court 
in  Luther  vs.  Borden,  decided  that  the  President  had  the 
right  to  determine  when  a  State  had  a  republican  form 
of  government. 

Johnson  spoke  again  on  the  status  of  the  Southern 
States  upon  March  i.  Having  thought  over  the  matter 
carefully,  he  felt  more  strongly  than  ever  that  he  was 
right.  The  war  is  over  and  the  "  paramount  obligation 
due"  to  the  United  States  is  recognized  everywhere  by  the 
Southerners.  They  do  not  wish  to  resist  and  the  govern 
ment  should  give  them  the  same  privileges  as  residents 
in  loyal  States.  Sumner  discussed  the  character  of  the 
United  States,  as  if  we  lived  under  one  government, 
"  paramount  everywhere  without  limitation."  Johnson 
recited  the  events  leading  up  to  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution,  ''which  for  the  execution  of  its  own  powers  looks 
to  no  State  interference,  to  no  State  assistance,  but  to  the 
direct  responsibility  of  each  individual  citizen  to  the 
government  within  the  limit  of  the  powers  conferred  upon 
the  government."  The  government  is  "partly  national 
and  partly  federal."  The  States  are  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  existence  of  the  government.  "He  who  seeks 
to  blot  out  of  existence  a  State,  strikes  a  blow  at  the 


132  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

very  life  of  the  government;"  for  the  "continuing  whole 
some  existence  of  the  government  depends  upon  the 
continuing  existence  of  the  States.  The  general  govern 
ment  is  infinitely  more  dependent  upon  the  States  than 
the  States  are  upon  the  general  government."  The 
Constitution  never  contemplated  that  the  government 
should  "  possess,  under  any  state  of  circumstances,  the 
power  to  put  an  end  to  a  State."  Sumner's  suicide 
theory,  now  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  Senate,  was 
not  received  in  1862.  "If,  flagrante  hello,  the  Senate 
considered  them  as  States,  in  the  name  of  reason,  why  are 
they  not  to  consider  them  as  States,  now  that  the  war 
is  ended."  If  they  are  States  still,  their  relation  is  the 
same  as  before  secession  and  they  are  entitled  to  repre 
sentation  in  the  Senate,  if  they  can  present  persons  who 
have  the  individual  requirements  to  take  seats  there. 
There  would  be  no  danger  to  the  public  weal  to  permit 
this  and  party  danger  is  not  to  be  recognized.  Anyone 
should  be  admitted,  who  can  take  the  oath.  In  such  be 
lief,  Johnson  had  presented  a  number  of  credentials  for 
Southern  Senators,  who  are  now  as  loyal  as  Sumner  him 
self.13 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  not  a  government 
over  the  State  at  all.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
and  the  government  of  the  State  are  equally,  as  far  as  the 
people  of  that  State  are  concerned,  the  government  of  the 
people  of  that  State.  They  owe  allegiance  to  a  much  greater 
extent  to  the  government  of  the  State. 

The  judicial  system  of  the  nation  and  the  Senate  depend 
on  the  States.  The  Supreme  Court  is  now  receiving  rec- 

13  He  claimed  that  Wade  and  Chase  had  supported  secession  resolves  in 
1859,  but  promptly  apologized,  when  Wade  denied  this  as  to  himself  and 
Sherman  as  to  Chase,  vide  March  2. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  133 

ords  from  decisions  of  courts  in  rebel  States  and  hearing 
cases  from  these  States.  A  government  can  not  conquer 
itself.  During  the  war,  Wade  himself  had  said:  "Once 
a  State  of  this  Union  always  a  State."  As  a  member  of 
the  Judiciary  Committee  during  the  war,  Johnson  had 
agreed  that  it  would  be  improper  (not  illegal)  to  admit 
the  representatives  from  the  rebel  States  without  an 
act  of  Congress.  "Now  the  war  has  been  over  for  a  year 
and  you  are  trying  to  find  out  whether  Southerners  are 
kind  to  freedmen."  Johnson  had  ever  thought  slavery 
was  wrong,  but  did  not  quarrel  with  the  other  view.  He 
believed  that  the  results  of  emancipation  "will  be  ex 
ceedingly  advantageous,"  but  thought  that  those  van 
quished  in  the  greatest  rebellion  the  world  had  ever 
witnessed  should  be  taken  back  and  granted  peace,  as 
Vattel  advised  should  be  done,  when  a  rebellion  was 
crushed. 

It  meant  much  to  the  country  to  have  in  the  Senate,  so 
fair-minded  a  man  as  Johnson,  who  could  say14  that  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen  was  perfectly  impartial  and  gave 
subpoenas  when  asked.  "  I  differed  from  the  committee, 
but  never  saw  the  slightest  reason  to  suspect  that  they  de 
signed  anything  that  was  not  perfectly  just  and  fair."15 

An  echo  of  a  controversy  which  has  not  yet  died  down 
was  heard  on  May  I,  when  Johnson  read  a  letter  from 
Wade  Hampton,  who  had  written  him  as  South  Carolina 
had  no  Senator,  denying  Sherman's  charge  that  Hamp 
ton  burnt  Columbia,  accusing  Sherman's  soldiers  of 
burning  the  town,  and  asking  for  an  investigation  of  the 
matter.  Johnson  vouched  for  Hampton's  veracity, 
having  known  him  long  before  the  war  and  asked  that 

14  On  March  15. 

16  His  eulogy  on  Solomon  Foot  of  Vermont  on  April  1 2  is  another  proof  of 
his  friendly  relations  with  northern  Republicans. 


134  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

the  letter  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs.  Fessenden  objected  to  the  reading  of  private 
letters  and  John  Sherman  defended  his  brother,  where 
upon  Johnson  rejoined  that  he  considered  the  letter  as 
a  memorial  and  had  shown  it  to  John  Sherman,  who 
thought  it  might  well  be  presented  with  Sherman  s  reply. 
He  then  withdrew  his  motion,  remarking  that  he  was  far 
from  justifying  Hampton,  who  may  have  thought  his 
conduct  right,  though  "he  sinned  very  materially  against 
his  duty,"  and  that  " nobody  can  think  higher  of  the 
gallant  general,"  Sherman,  "to  whom  we  are  indebted  so 
much  for  the  termination  of  the  rebellion,  than  I  do." 
He  favored  a  constitutional  definition  of  citizenship 
which16  was  recognized,  but  not  defined,  by  the  original 
instrument.  Without  such  definition  he  was  not  pre 
pared  to  say  that  everyone  born  within  the  United 
States  is  a  citizen.  The  Indian  tribes  are  subject  to  our 
jurisdiction,  but  we  recognize  some  sort  of  national  exist 
ence  of  theirs,  though  under  no  constitutional  obligation 
to  do  so.  The  grant  of  citizenship  to  them  should  be 
avoided  and  the  term,  "Indians  not  taxed,"  which  had 
a  fixed  meaning,  should  be  introduced  in  the  definition  as 
an  exception.  The  proposed  Fourteenth  Amendment 
excluded  too  many  from  office. 

All  history  shows,  as  I  think,  that,  on  the  conclusion  of  a 
civil  war,  the  more  mild,  consistently  with  the  safety  of  the 
country,  the  measures  which  are  adopted,  the  better  for  the 
restoration  of  entire  peace  and  harmony. 

The  South  will  refuse  to  accept  the  amendment, 
which  will  disfranchise  nine-tenths  of  the  whites.  Har 
mony  is  yet  far  off  and  the  South  is  kept  in  thralldom, 
wherefrom  it  is  less  prosperous  and  the  whole  country 

16  On  May  30. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  135 

suffers.  If  the  amendment  were  divided  the  difficulty 
would  be  less.  This  war  was  not  like  many  civil  wars, 
for  it  grew  "out  of  a  difference  of  constitutional  opinion," 
in  which  opinion  the  South  was  honest,  although  its 
view  was  "  wrong,  dangerous,  unconstitutional,  and  in 
consistent  with  the  continuance  of  the  Union."  Treason 
had  been  committed,  but  the  men  who  formerly  held 
public  offices  are  no  more  traitors  than  those  who  did 
not.  He  cited17  the  case  of  ex  parte  Garland,  which  had 
not  yet  been  decided,  but  which  he  had  argued  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  urged  that  the  operation  of 
the  President's  pardon  was  to  clear  the  person  pardoned 
from  the  obligation  to  take  the  iron  clad  oath.  He  was 
forced  by  Howe  to  admit  that  the  power  to  pardon  from 
the  operation  of  a  statute  was  greater  than  from  the  oper 
ation  of  a  constitutional  amendment.  All  his  attempts 
failed  to  have  the  exclusion  of  the  State  officials  removed 
from  the  resolution,  or  the  length  of  time  diminished 
during  which  the  oath  of  allegiance  had  previously  been 
taken.  He  even  struggled  to  prevent18  the  diminution 
of  votes  from  applying  to  municipal  elections.19  Up  till 
the  passage  of  the  amendment,  everyone  thought  the 
basis  of  representation  depended  on  the  entire  number 
of  the  people  represented;  but  "the  effect  of  the  excep 
tion  is  to  deny  to  the  black  man  the  right  of  representa 
tion,  unless  the  State  shall  secure  him  the  right  to  the 
franchise."  The  right  of  the  State  to  control  the  fran 
chise  is  thus  admitted.  In  Maryland,  the  exclusion  of 
the  blacks,  who  are  a  fourth  of  the  population  and  who 

17  On  May  31,  vide  2  Elaine  Twenty  Years  209. 

1S  On  June  6 

11  2  Elaine  212  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  disqualification  clause 
was  made  stronger  in  the  Senate  than  in  the  House  and  Johnson  was  the  only 
man  who  voted  against  the  substitute,  while  even  he  afterward  said  that  he 
did  so  under  a  misapprehension 


136  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

are  the  only  class  of  people  excluded  from  the  suffrage 
will  cause  the  South  to  lose  at  least  one  Congressman.20 
The  result  will  be  ruinous  to  the  South.  In  Maryland 
there  is  a  contest  for  negro  suffrage  and  this  amendment 
is  a  provision  to  force  such  suffrage  on  the  State.  The 
free  States  have  a  majority  of  seventy-two  now  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  is  surely  enough  to 
protect  their  interests.  Johnson  appealed  to  the  Sen 
ators  not  to  interfere  with  the  "rights  secured  to  the 
Southern  States  now  by  the  Constitution,  which  our 
fathers  gave  us,  upon  the  pretext,  utterly  without  founda 
tion,  that  the  rights  of  your  respective  States  will  be  sub 
ject  to  the  slightest  peril,  by  continuing  the  representation 
as  it  stands."  In  1787,  the  fathers  determined  that  a 
nation  was  to  be  created  by  means  of  their  wisdom  and  a 
nation  they  did  create,  awful  in  war,  happy  and  conser 
vative  in  peace.  It  is  an  anti-republican  doctrine  that 
people  within  the  limits  of  a  State  are  not  represented. 
Representation  and  franchise  are  different.  The  whole 
effect  of  the  proposal  is  to  strike  a  blow  at  States  now  in 
the  Union,  unless  they  will  agree  to  a  policy  at  war  with 
the  past  and  exclude  some  of  the  best  and  wisest  of  their 
men.  All  the  States  except  Texas  have  organized  and 
the  executive  and  judiciary  departments  recognize  them. 
Reference  of  the  amendment  to  them  for  ratification 
recognizes  them  also.  Let  us  wait  until  these  States  are 
represented  in  Congress  and  advise  with  us  as  to  consti 
tutional  amendments.  In  1865,  Judge  Nelson  said  South 
Carolina  was  entitled  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  her  con 
stitutional  rights  and  privileges.21  We  should  terminate 
present  conditions,  readmit  the  Southerners  to  Congress, 
and  make  the  Union  prosperous  and  happy.  His  words 

20  On  June  8. 

21  Egan  case.     He  was  tried  by  a  military  commission. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  137 

fell  on  deaf  ears  and  he  voted  with  the  minority  against 
the  amendment.22 

His  anxiety  to  have  the  States  restored  was  shown  by 
his  voting  to  recognize  Tennessee,  though  he  had  no 
official  knowledge  of  the  truth  of  the  statement  made  in 
the  preamble  of  the  resolve  that  that  State  had,  in  good 
faith,  adopted  the  Fourteenth  Amendment.23  He  was 
also  urgent  that  Senator  Patterson  from  that  State  be 
admitted24  to  take  an  oath,  subject  to  the  possibility  of 
punishment  for  perjury. 

He  still  insisted25  that  loyal  slaveholders  be  paid  with 
interest  for  slaves  who  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  and 
who  were  properly  declared  free  because  of  that  fact. 

If  there  are  any  men  in  the  United  States  who  should  be 
treated  with  generosity,  to  say  nothing  of  justice,  it  is  the  men 
who  remained  loyal  to  the  Union  and  true  to  their  duty  and 
the  flag  of  the  Union  in  Maryland,  who  were  slaveholders  and 
who  were  willing  to  let  the  institution  go,  rather  than  see  the 
government  of  the  Union  put  at  hazard. 

When  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  shall  have  been 
adopted,  no  further  payment  can  be  made  on  this  account, 
consequently  this  payment  should  be  made  quickly.26 

22  On  July  7,  he  made  a  strenuous  struggle  to  be  permitted  to  present  a 
report  made  by  the  minority  of  three  in  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  on  Recon 
struction.     Johnson  had  been  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  end  of  June  and  asked 
Hendricks  to  present  it,  but  he  had  been  refused  permission  so  to  do;  because 
he  was  not  a  member  of  the  committee,  because  it  was  not  customary  to  re 
ceive  such  reports,  and  because  it  was  not  presented  with  the  majority  report. 
Johnson  showed  that  such  minority  reports  had  been  made  in  at  least  three 
previous  years  and  won  his  fight  to  lay  before  the  people  views  on  the  Consti 
tutional  Amendment  different  from  those  of  the  majority. 

23  On  July  21. 

24  On  July  26. 

25  On  July  23.     Creswell  supported  him. 

26  He  was  more  successful  in  urging,  on  July  24,  as  an  act  of  humanity  and 
justice  to  the  exceedingly  improverished  South,  the  suspension  of  the  direct 
tax,  in  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen. 


138  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

During  all  this  struggle,  his  relations  to  his  Republican 
associates  continued  cordial.  They  recognized  in  him 
a  Union  man,  who  could  say,  in  his  eulogy27  on  Collamer, 
that  he  died  just  after  the  fratricidal  blow,  aimed  "at 
the  nation's  life  by  wicked  ambition,  proving  for  a  time 
able  to  mislead  the  honest  masses  of  the  South,  was 
so  utterly  defeated  and  crushed  that  its  renewal  is  im 
possible." 

During  the  session  he  frequently  spoke  on  the  affairs 
of  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  held  that  a  corporation,28 
chartered  there  by  Congress,  would  have  no  power  to 
transact  business  outside  of  the  District;  but,  if  no  law 
of  a  State  prevented,  the  corporation  might  go  into  a 
State  and  buy  land  there.  He  discussed  the  proposed 
alterations  in  the  jurisdiction29  of  the  courts  of  the  Dis 
trict,  the  marriage  laws,30  the  privilege  of  railroads  there,31 
and  the  enlargement  of  the  capitol  grounds.32  He  felt 
there  was  no  danger  of  annulling  the  provision  of  the 
Maryland  Bill  of  Rights33  and  permitting  people  to 
give  to  churches  what  they  think  proper,  free  from  re 
striction,  because  we  have  no  state  religion  and  the  many 
sects  are  watchful  of  each  other.  Johnson  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Senate  in  1846  and  defended  the  recession 
of  Alexandria  to  Virginia,  which  he  thought  clearly 
within  the  Federal  power.  The  rest  of  the  District  might 
also  be  receded  and  the  site  of  the  capital  changed.  We 
had  a  government  before  we  had  a  capital  and  the  ab 
sence  of  it  will  not  destroy  the  government.  If  Congress 

27  On  December  14. 

28  On  March  7  and  21. 

29  On  April  2. 

30  On  April  3. 

31  On  May  21. 

32  On  July  10. 

33  On  July  20. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  139 

remove  the  capital,  they  are  not  compelled  to  remain  rulers 
of  the  land,  but  may  surrender  it,  as  forts  or  dockyards 
are  surrendered  to  the  States,  when  the  exigency  demand 
ing  their  use  terminated.34 

If  the  act  of  secession  was  unconstitutional,  it  is  void; 
if  constitutional,  Congress  can  not  impair  it.  It  is  folly 
to  say,  as  Howard  did,  that  Alexandria  was  receded  at 
the  beginning  of  the  rebellion.  The  fact  that  Alexandria 
voted  in  favor  of  returning  to  Virginia  does  not  make  the 
law  void.35  If  Alexandria  was  not  retroceded,  how  is 
West  Virginia  a  State.  To  take  back  the  territory  would 
increase  Federal  expenses.  The  District  needs  no  in 
crease  in  territory,  while  some  paramount  consideration 
should  be  urged  to  justify  the  legislating  for  and  taxing 
people  without  representation,  contrary  to  the  very 
spirit  of  our  government. 

Questions  of  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  brought 
Johnson  often  on  the  floor.36  "Under  the  authority  to 
regulate  commerce,"  he  held37  that 

Congress  has  no  power  to  construct  a  bridge,  unless  it  owns 
the  land  on  either  side,  but  that  the  authority  to  construct  is 
vested  in  the  States  alone,  where  the  States  have  jurisdiction 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  over  which  the  bridge  is  to  be  thrown. 
Congress,  however,  have  the  authority,  under  the  commercial 
power,  to  prescribe  what  draws  are  necessary,  in  order  to  avoid 
any  impediment  to  navigation,  or  whether  bridges  are  to  be 
built  without  draws  and  with  an  elevation  which  will  remove 
all  danger  of  impediment  to  the  river. 


34  July  10  and  n. 

35  In  this  speech,  Johnson  referred  to  his  great  contemporary,  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  as  "eminent  as  a  lawyer,  as  well  as  a  politician,  and,  in  my  judgment, 
more  often  wrong  in  the  latter  capacity  than  he  was  in  the  first." 

36  On  January  15,  he  spoke  on  the  Wheeling  Bridge  case. 

37  On  July  1 8. 


I4O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Neither  the  commercial  nor  the  war  power  gives 
Congress  the  right  to  keep  out  the  Asiatic  cholera.*1 
He  believed  that  the  commercial  power  was  intended 
to  be  exclusive  and,  if  Congress  failed  to  regulate  com 
merce  entirely,  it  would  have  declared  that  it  had 
placed  matters  in  the  condition  in  which  they  should 
remain.  The  commercial  power  does  not  conflict  with 
the  police  power  of  the  States  to  preserve  the  health  or 
morals  of  their  citizens  and  with  their  exclusive  power  to 
establish  quarantines.  If  Congress  can  legislate  as  to  the 
health,  it  can  do  so  after  a  disease  comes  into  the  coun 
try,  and  if  it  has  authority  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
disease,  it  could  prevent  it  through  restrictions  on  inter 
state  commerce  also. 

He  objected  to  the  bill  for  interstate  intercourse.89 

A  Constitution  is  worth  nothing  practically,  if  it  is  not  to 
be  considered  as  authoritatively  decided  after  years  of  deliber 
ation  and  frequent  decisions  by  every  department  of  the 
government. 

It  has  been  decided  that  commerce  within  the  State 
is  purely  under  the  State's  control.  Individual  judgment 
must  not  be  used. 

When  we  swear  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  we  are  bound  to  construe  it,  in  order  to  support  it,  as 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  are  known  to  have  construed 
it  and  the  people  by  whom  it  was  adopted  are  known  to  have 
construed  it  and  to  have  adopted  it  because  of  that  construction. 

The  States  may  prescribe  the  terms  of  railroad  chart 
ers,  and  provide  for  their  forfeiture,  while  Congress  may 
not  grant  such  railroads  powers  not  in  their  charters, 
which  franchises  will  be  unforfeitable  by  the  State.  He 

as  On  May  n  and  15. 
39  On  April  26. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  14! 

defended40  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  for  its  con 
duct  during  the  war,  when  Lincoln  and  Stanton  held 
it  to  be  invaluable  to  the  Union.  It  was  planning  a 
branch  to  Port  of  Rocks  and  was  anxious  to  complete 
the  Connellsville  Railroad  to  Pittsburg.  In  the  Circuit 
Court  at  Wilkesbarre  in  the  preceding  summer,  Johnson 
had  won  a  decision  that  the  Pennsylvanian  repeal  of  that 
charter  was  unconstitutional.41  He  proposed  that  the 
rates  be  not  greater  than  the  State  allows.42  Fessenden 
remarked  that  "a  very  selfish  and  odious  condition" 
resulted  in  Maryland  and  New  Jersey  from  monopoly 
given  railroads.  Johnson  at  once  defended  his  State  and 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  charter,  which  had  been  opposed 
by  the  Baltimore  and  Washington  turnpike  men.  In 
stead  of  a  bonus  for  the  charter,  a  fifth  of  the  fares  on 
the  Washington  branch  went  to  the  State.  Fessenden 
said  that  Maryland  levied  contributions  on  the  citizens 
of  other  States.  Johnson  said  that  Maryland  was  not 
ashamed.  Fessenden  came  from  an  inhospitable  part 
of  the  country,  surpassed  by  Maryland  in  climate  and 
in  such  natural  products  as  oysters,  terrapins,  crabs, 
and  ducks. 

If  Maryland  had  been,  as  Maine  has  been  from  the  first,  a 
free  State,  she  would  have  had  a  population  now  as  numerous 
and  as  enterprising  as  is  the  population  of  the  State  of  Maine. 

As  it  is,  Maryland  will  soon  outnumber  her.43 

John  P.  Stockton,  the  Democratic  candidate  from 
New  Jersey  for  the  Senatorship,  had  been  returned  as 

40  On  May  3,  Creswell  spoke  in  defense  of  Maryland. 

41  He  explained  why  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  and  the  Northern  Central 
Railroads  would  not  sell  through  tickets  and  checks  from  Washington  to 
Harrisburg. 

42  On  May  29. 

43  In  spite  of  his  irenical   disposition,  Johnson  had  frequently  such  argu 
ments,  e.g.,  with  Trumbull  on  February  23  and  March  26. 


142  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

elected  by  a  plurality  vote  of  the  legislature,  in  accord 
ance  with  a  resolution  passed  by  it,  after  it  appeared 
that  no  candidate  could  command  the  votes  of  a  mcijor- 
ity  of  the  members.  His  right  to  a  seat  was  disputed 
partly  on  constitutional  and  partly  on  partisan  grounds. 
Johnson  took  part  in  the  debate  and  maintained44  that  the 
Constitution  did  not  settle  what  constitutes  a  legislature. 
In  1787,  Pennsylvania's  legislature  consisted  of  one  House 
only.  The  joint  convention  of  the  legislature  had  the 
right  to  elect,  when  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  was 
present,  although  not  one  member  of  one  of  the  Houses 
were  present.  The  convention  had  also  the  right  to 
provide  that  a  plurality  should  elect  a  Senator.  Stock 
ton  voted  on  his  right  to  a  seat  and  Senator  Morrill  broke 
a  pair  in  order  to  vote  against  Stockton.  The  vote  stood 
22  to  21  in  Stockton's  favor.  Stockton  was  ill  advised  in 
voting,  for,  in  the  case  of  a  tie,  he  would  have  remained 
in  the  Senate,  with  a  prima  facie  title.  When  the  Senate 
met  again,  Sumiier  attacked  Stockton,  moved  to  cor 
rect  the  Journal,  by  striking  out  Stockton's  vote,  and 
said  that  Morrill  had  broken  his  pair,  after  obtaining 
the  approval  of  Sumner,  who  in  turn  had  consulted  with 
Johnson.  Johnson  defended  Stockton's  act,  as  the  case 
was  one  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  Stockton's 
only  interest  was  the  insignificant  one  of  his  pay  as  Sena 
tor.45  Though  the  Journal  was  not  corrected,  parlia 
mentary  steps  were  taken,  which  led  to  the  rejection 
of  Stockton  from  his  seat,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  21,  in  the 
absence,  through  illness,  of  Stockton's  colleague  from 
New  Jersey,  who  would  have  voted  for  him.  Johnson 

44  On  March  22. 

45  On  March  26.     White's  Lyman   Trumbull   at   page  264  speaks  of  this 
speech  as  "a  pathetic  appeal  to  the  fraternal  feeling  and  gentlemanly  instincts 
of  Senators." 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  143 

properly  reprobated  the  refusal  of  the  majority  to  post 
pone  the  matter  and  claimed  that  "I  speak  in  no  party 
sense.  Those,  who  know  the  political  principles  which 
I  have  entertained,  from  the  time  I  came  into  public 
life  up  to  the  present  time,  are  not  warranted  in  calling 
me  a  Democrat.  I  never  was."46  The  statement  is 
paradoxical  but  true,  for  Johnson  was,  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  a  border  State  Union  man  and  an  old  line  Whig, 
though,  for  want  of  another  party  to  advocate  his 
principles,  he  found,  at  times,  a  more  congenial  refuge 
with  the  Democrats  than  with  the  Republicans. 

He  favored  relieving  Supreme  Court  Judges  of  Circuit 
Court  work,  but  wished  to  continue  appeals  in  many 
cases  to  the  higher  tribunal,  feeling  that  the  law  would 
thus  be  more  uniform  and  more  respected  by  the  State 
courts.  He  opposed  allowing  a  judge  who  sat  on  a  case 
below  to  sit  in  bane  on  an  appeal,  but47  saw  no  objection 
to  clerks  being  related  to  the  judges. 

Johnson  defended  a  bill  for  the  protection  of  federal  of 
ficers.48  In  every  well  regulated  government,  he  thought, 
the  judicial  department  should  be  coextensive  with  the 
legislative.  If  the  rightful  authority  of  the  government 
could  not  have  been  maintained  by  the  courts,  our  insti 
tutions  would  have  failed  and  the  general  government 
would  have  been  comparatively  futile.  The  provision 
of  the  judiciary  act  of  1/89  that  cases  involving  Federal 
questions  might  be  carried,  by  writ  of  error,  from  State 
courts  to  the  Supreme  Court  was  very  important. 
Whenever  the  validity  of  Federal  law  is  questioned, 
the  United  States  should  have  jurisdiction.  If  the  State 
court  tries  to  execute  its  judgment  in  spite  of  such  re- 

4fiOn  March  27. 

47  On  April  2  and  4. 

48  On  April  20. 


144  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

moval,  its  officers  should  be  punished,  for  it  would  not 
be  a  case  of  erroneous  judgment,  but  of  a  violation  of  a 
Federal  statute,  which  Congress  has  authority  to  pass. 
Many  abuses  of  authority  have  been  committed  by 
those  to  whom  the  management  of  the  suppression  of 
the  rebellion  has  been  intrusted.  "1  believe  the  sup 
pression  would  have  been  just  as  effectual,  obeying 
the  constitutional  limits.  I  believed,  in  the  beginning, 
that  it  was  all  important  that  the  writ  of  habeus  corpus 
should  be  suspended,"  and  supported  Lincoln  against 
Taney  in  that  position.  "If  I  were  wrong,  every  officer 
who  refused  to  obey  the  proclamation  would  be  respon 
sible."  Johnson  thought  military  commissions  merely 
covered  the  army,  the  executive  thought  differently  and 
many  were  punished  under  them.  Johnson  tried  in 
vain  to  persuade  the  Commission,  who  tried  Lincoln's 
assassins,  that  they  had  no  power,  but,  in  ex  parte  Mil- 
ligan,  he  won  from  the  Supreme  Court  a  decision  that 
there  was  no  authority  for  a  court  martial,  or  a  military 
commission,  to  try  a  civilian,  unless  he  happened  to  be 
a  spy  and  so  brought  within  the  scope  of  military  law. 
Johnson  upheld  the  power  of  the  President  to  reappoint 
to  an  office  a  man  whose  appointment  had  been  rejected 
by  the  Senate.  The  breach  between  Andrew  Johnson 
and  Congress  was  widening  daily,  and  the  conservatism 
which  was  characteristic  of  Reverdy  Johnson,  as  a  true 
Marylander,  led  him  to  support  the  President.  The 
discussion  over  the  post  office  appropriation  bill  led 
Johnson  to  express  his  views  on  April  23.  The  power  to 
appoint  to  office  can  not  be  taken  from  the  President 
and,  as  it  is  his  duty  to  keep  the  offices  filled,  recess 
appointments  continue  until  the  end  of  the  next  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  in  spite  of  rejection  of  the  men  ap 
pointed.  The  appointee  has  a  right  to  the  salary  and, 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  145 

if  Congress  can  not  prevent  an  appointment,  they  should 
not  prevent  the  pay.  If  a  man  die  during  the  session 
and  the  fact  is  not  known,  the  President  does  not  have  to 
wait  the  Senate's  convening  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The 
President  has  also  the  power49  to  remove,  a  power  not 
expressly  put  in  the  Constitution,  but  inferred.  The 
Senate  abandoned  any  attempt  to  attack  Jackson  for 
his  removals.  Congress  may  refuse  to  pay  salaries, 
but  has  no  moral  right  to  do  so.  A  President  may  be 
starved  out  as  well  as  impeached,  but  such  a  precedent 
may  return  to  plague  the  inventor.  Arguing  with  Trum- 
bull,  Johnson  continued  that  to  grant  the  President 
power  to  remove  and  deny  him  that  to  appoint  is  to 
hinder  the  government.  "It  is  not  my  good  fortune 
to  see  President  Johnson,  except  very  seldom  and 
that  upon  matters  of  business."  He  is  a  "man  of  firm 
ness."  Johnson,  not  being  under  the  influence  of  party 
spirit,  emphasized  the  danger  of  trouble  between  Con 
gress  and  the  President  and  of  divided  counsels, 
when  there  was  danger  of  war  with  Austria  and  France 
over  Mexico.  We  are  not  legislating  for  the  hour  and 
the  President  can  not  properly  man  the  offices,  if  he  has 
to  find  persons  disposed  to  take  place,  on  the  contin 
gency  that  the  Senate  will  approve  their  nominations. 
He  can  see50  to  the  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  only 
through  subordinates,  and,  although  he  may  abuse 
the  power  of  removal,  all  powers,  even  those  of  Con 
gress,  involve  such  possibilities  of  abuse.  The  proposal 
"strikes  a  vital  blow  at  the  executive  department  and  is 
inconsistent  with  all  the  objects  which  it  was  the  pur 
pose  of  the  Convention  to  have  accomplished  through 
the  instrumentality  of  that  department."  "Nobody 

4>  On  April  30. 

"On  May  i. 


146  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

has  ever  impeached  the  personal  integrity  of  any  Presi 
dent,  '  though  members  of  Congress  have  been  expelled 
for  improper  conduct.51  Fillmore  removed  a  territorial 
judge,  who  applied  for  a  mandamus,  but  meantime 
the  Senate  had  approved  a  nomination  in  his  place. 
Did  that  remove  from  office  the  original  incumbent? 
In  any  case,  the  proposed  provision  is  not  fittingly 
placed  in  an  appropriation  bill  and,  if  the  bill  should 
be  vetoed  because  of  the  provision,  it  might  be  neces 
sary  to  close  the  post  offices. 

I  will  not  discuss  the  differences  between  the  President  and 
Congress,  but  think  those  who  differ  from  the  President  ought 
charitably  to  conclude  that  he,  as  they,  believes  he  is  right 
and  that  the  differences  are  honest.  Otherwise  we  will  have 
a  distracted  country,  in  more  peril  than  in  the  Civil  War. 

"Andrew  Johnson  is  carrying  out  Lincoln's  policy. 
It  never  occurred  to  the  people  in  the  past  that  the  Pres 
ident  could  be  compelled  to  retain,  in  his  cabinet,  of 
ficers  in  whom  he  had  ceased  to  confide,  no  matter  upon 
what  grounds  his  confidence  was  lost."  If  he  must 
report  reasons  for  the  removal  to  Congress,  it  must 
mean  that,  if  the  reasons  are  not  satisfactory,  the  officers 
must  be  reinstated  and  a  cabinet  of  officers,  in  whom  he 
has  no  confidence,  is  forced  on  the  President,  or  there  is 
laid  before  the  Senate  some  ground  upon  which  the  House 
of  Representatives  may  impeach  the  President.  The 
wise  prescience  of  these  words  was  to  be  proven  in  the 
coming  months.  Johnson  discussed,52  with  great  incisive- 
ness,  the  constitutional  decisions  on  the  right  to  remove 
officers  and  called  to  the  attention  of  the  Senate  the  fact 

51  In  Marbury  v.  Madison  the  Supreme   Court  "committed  a  very  grave 
fault     ....     by  deciding  a  controversy  in  a  case  which  was  not  before 
them." 

52  On  May  2  and  7. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  147 

that,  as  cabinet  officers  are  not  provided  expressly  by 
the  Constitution,  'Congress  might  repeal  the  laws  estab 
lishing  them  and  leave  no  such  officers.  The  good  sense 
and  patriotism  of  the  men  of  1789  showed  how  important 
it  is  to  give  the  President  advisers.  You  must  vest 
powers  somewhere  and  chough  the  patronage  of  the  gov 
ernment  should  not  be  used  for  political  purposes, 
precedent  shows  that  removal  may  be  made  without 
assigning  cause. 

When  the  consular  and  diplomatic  bill  was  debated, 
Johnson  opposed  depriving  of  his  salary,  Mr.  Harvey, 
the  minister  to  Portugal,  who  wrote  Seward  a  private 
letter  reflecting  on  Congress.  There  was  no  complaint 
against  Harvey's  conduct  of  his  office  and  it  was  unjust 
to  force  him  to  serve  without  pay,  or  to  resign.  Johnson 
was  "not  in  the  habit  of  writing  private  letters,"  but 
did  not  think  they  should  count  against  a  man.53 

He  opposed  the  admission  of  Colorado  on  the  ground54 
of  want  of  population.  Inequality  between  States  is 
bad  and  would  not  have  been  ignored  in  1787,  had  not 
the  small  States  been  perfectly  independent  and  un 
willing  to  corne  in  on  other  terms.  Colorado  contains 
only  35,000  people,  part  of  whom  are  Mexicans.  State 
hood  is  not  needed  to  protect  the  people  there,  since  we 
protect  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  contains  100,000 
people.  "My  opinion  is  that  the  moment  the  State  is 
admitted,  it  is  wholly  independent  of  any  legislation 
that  Congress  may  adopt,  except  such  as  falls  within 
its  delegated  powers." 

There  is  a  danger  in  admitting  too  many  States. 
Not  wealth,  but  citizens,  make  a  State.  It  was  uncertain, 
whether  the  people  of  Colorado  really  wished  statehood, 

53  On  July  20. 

54  On  April  25. 


148  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

which  they  rejected  in  1864  and  now  requested  by  a 
returned  majority  of  only  155  in  6000  votes.  A  State 
constitution  should  not  be  forced  on  the  people.  The 
bill  passed  and  was  vetoed  by  the  President,65  and  Rev- 
erdy  Johnson  defended  his  right  to  do  so,  though  the 
act  had  no  precedent.  Congress  did  not  repass  the  bill 
and  Colorado  waited  for  a  decade,  before  she  became  a 
State. 

He  felt  the  condition  of  the  country  imperatively 
demanded  a  bankruptcy  law,56  and  opposed  a  direct 
cotton  tax.57  He  favored58  permitting  collectors  of 
taxes  to  deposit  funds  in  national  banks,  instead  of 
compelling  them  to  use  the  subtreasury,  which  would 
put  on  them  the  burden  of  converting  their  receipts  into 
legal  tender  notes.  So  long  as  the  national  banks  and 
the  subtreasury  are  in  existence,  legislation  must  enable 
each  to  get  on  without  unnecessarily  embarrassing  the 
public.  He  objected  to  a  bill  against  smuggling,  be 
cause  it  failed  to  provide  a  jury  trial  and  placed  the  bur 
den  of  proving  innocence  on  the  defendant,  as  the  pur 
chaser  would  have  to  prove  ignorance  of  the  wrongful 
importation.59  He  opposed  a  reduction  of  mileage  of 
members  of  Congress  to  twenty  cents,60  as  we  "have  got 
into  the  good  practice  of  bringing  our  families"  to  Wash 
ington.  Calhoun  had  rightly  said  that  one  of  the  bonds 
of  the  Union  is  the  mileage,  and  the  amount  proposed  is 

55  On  May  21. 

56  On  July  23. 

67  On  July  6. 

68  On  July  19. 

59  On  May  14.  On  July  23,  he  advocated  the  act  of  1864,  which  made 
passage  money  a  lien  on  real  estate  and  a  personal  obligation  to  be  paid 
within  twelve  months  by  an  immigrant,  and  provided  that  the  Commissioner 
of  Immigration  see  that  means  should  be  afforded  him  of  being  transported 
whither  he  might  wish  to  go. 

•°  On  July  24. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  149 

not  enough  to  bring  the  Congressmen's  families  on  it. 
He  defended  the  graduates  of  the  military  academy 
from  the  charge  of  treason.61  The  fault  of  those,  who 
left  the  government  and  were  guilty  of  treason,  was 
palliated  by  the  fact  that  they  received  their  early  edu 
cation  in  a  part  of  the  United  States,  where  constitu 
tional  secession  was  taught.62 

Johnson  opposed  the  purchase  of  the  library  of  his 
old  friend  Pettigru  of  Charleston,  whose  last  letter,  re 
gretting  South  Carolina's  secession,  had  been  written 
to  Johnson.63  Old  editions  of  law  books  are  not  of  much 
value.  Pettigru  was  not  buying  books  in  recent  years, 
relying,  as  most  lawyers  do,  on  bar  libraries.  Johnson 
himself  bought  Wirt's  library  of  four  or  five  thousand 
volumes  for  $3000,  when  he  had  unfortunately  lost  his 
own  through  the  mob's  acts.64 

His  charitable  disposition  was  shown  by  his  proposal 
to  appropriate  $50,000  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  from 
a  fire  in  Portland,  Maine.65  He  cited  the  precedents  of 
appropriations  for  the  sufferers  from  an  explosion  in 
the  Washington  arsenal,  of  $20,000  to  Alexandria  in 
1812,  of  lands  to  the  sufferers  from  the  New  Madrid 
earthquake,  of  $5000  to  sufferers  from  a  Venezuelan  earth 
quake  in  1812,  and  of  the  sending  of  a  ship  to  Ireland  in 
time  of  famine.  Trumbull  objected  to  the  proposition 
and  asked  its  reference  to  the  Finance  Committee.  John 
son  replied  that  Trumbull  had  recommended  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  which  was  a  charity.  Here  "is  a  loss  by 
fire,  such  as  never  occurred  anywhere  else,"  and  individ- 

41  On  May  17. 

81  A  member  of  the  Peace  Convention,  who  was  a  secessionist,  had  just  told 
Johnson:  You  were  right  and  I  was  wrong. 
48  Published  in  the  Intelligencer. 
•4  On  May  14. 
"On  July  19. 


I5O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

ual  aid  is  inadequate.  Buckalew  remarked  that  noth 
ing  had  been  given  Chambersburg  when  the  Confederates 
burned  it,  and  Johnson  replied  that  it  was  "impossible 
to  indemnify  against  the  consequences  of  war,"  after 
which  speech  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  bill 
pass  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  twenty-two  to  eighteen.66 

Near  the  close  of  the  session,  on  July  28,  he  opposed 
permitting  Fenians  to  hold  their  meetings  in  the  build 
ings  of  a  soldiers'  orphans  home.  The  Fenians'  "avowed 
purpose  is  to  make  war  upon  England,"  which  country 
would  have  good  right  to  complain,  if  such  permission 
be  granted.  Whether  England  did  right  during  the 
rebellion  is  not  now  the  question.  Our  recent  steps  to 
enforce  neutrality  laws  do  us  great  honor.  We  want 
the  approval  of  mankind  and  Great  Britain  already 
shows  such  admiration  of  us  that  the  time  is  near  ap 
proaching,  when  she  will  wake  up  to  her  own  default 
and  pay  us  damages  for  it.  Europe  is  in  convulsion. 
We  should  abstain  from  doing  anything  to  participate 
in  the  struggles.  We  have  won  in  our  own  conflict  and 
displayed  our  powers  to  an  astonished  world.  Our  duty 
now  is  to  heal  our  own  disorders.  England,  with  all  her 
faults,  "is  the  only  constitutional  government  now  upon 
the  face  of  the  habitable  globe,  except  our  own,  where 
personal  liberty  and  personal  rights  are  maintained." 

He  was  so  busy  with  legal  practice  in  those  days,  that 

GG  On  miscellaneous  topics  we  note  that  Johnson  opposed,  on  December  13, 
a  measure  for  improving  the  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress  in  the 
Associated  Press,  as  he  did  not  see  how  it  would  accomplish  anything  and 
considered  that  the  newspapers  did  no  harm  in  reporting  speeches  wrongly; 
spoke  on  April  20,  on  rescue  of  San  Francisco  passengers  in  1853;  prophesied, 
on  May  24,  that  the  official  history  of  the  rebellion  would  cost  two  or  three 
million  dollars;  advocated,  on  May  17,  raising  the  salary  of  clerks,  particularly 
in  the  Treasury  and  State  Departments;  and  suggested,  on  May  16,  Round 
Bay  on  the  Severn  River  as  a  freshwater  basin  for  ironclads. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  15! 

he  was  known  to  leave  the  Senate,  argue  a  case  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  then  return  to  his  desk.  In  the 
interval  between  sessions,  he  was  occupied  in  the  work 
of  the  law  in  the  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  courts. 
On  August  14,  1866,  a  convention  of  conservative 
Unionists67  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  which  gathering 
Johnson  took  part.  An  address  to  the  President  was 
there  prepared  and  was  presented  to  him  by  Johnson 
in  a  courtly  speech68  four  days  later.  In  the  autumn, 
he  took  a  prominent  part  in  aiding  the  Democrats  in 
State  politics,  joined  other  lawyers  in  an  opinion  that 
the  registration  law69  did  not  apply  to  elections  of 
municipal  corporations,  and  published  with  J.  H.  B. 
Latrobe70  an  opinion,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Alexander 
Randall,  that  new  registry  lists  could  be  used  in  Balti 
more.  On  November  3,  he  delivered  a  speech  at  Towson 
"on  the  questions  connected  with  the  condition  of  the 
country,"71  in  which  he  took  strong  ground  for  speedy 
readmission  of  the  States,  now  that  the  "insane  attempt 
to  dissolve  the  Union"  had  failed,  and  for  the  repeal  of 
the  iron  clad  oath  in  Maryland.  Yet  so  conservative 
was  he,  that  he  discouraged  the  calling  of  a  constitu 
tional  convention  in  the  State  during  1867,  after  the 
Democrats  had  gained  control  of  the  State  government, 
lest  the  Convention  cause  too  much  disturbance.  In 
the  Towson  speech,  after  attacking  the  abolitionists  and 
disunionists,  he  blamed  the  South  for  secession,  because 
of  the  great  inferiority  of  their  power  and  because  the 

67  The  so  called  arm-in-arm  convention.     DeWitt's  Impeachment  of  Andrew 
Johnson,  in. 

68  Gideon  Welles  (Diary  II  p.  582)  wrote  that  Johnson  read  the  address 
"with  some  earnestness  and  emphasis." 

69  3  Scharf  Md.  680. 

70  In  the  Sun  for  October  2,  1866. 

71  Printed  in  pamphlet  form.     Baltimore,  1866,  pp.  32. 


152  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

ground,  on  which  the  legality  of  their  act  was  placed 
was  "without  reasonable  wrarrant  and  was,  in  its  very 
nature,  fatal  to  an  effectual  union  of  States,  few  or 
many."  He  justified,  by  historical  argument,  the  right 
of  the  nation  to  suppress  insurrection.  The  United 
States  has  a "  government  vested  with  every  necessary 
power  to  enforce  its  jurisdiction  against  individuals,  and 
to  preserve  and  not  subvert  its  own  existence."  It  has 
"no  power  to  destroy  itself." 

Its  extended  life  depends  upon  the  continuing  existence  of 
the  States,  as  its  own  life  is  made  up  of  the  lives  of  the  States 
and  is  totally,  or  partially,  lost,  as  the  latter  shall  cease  to 
exist  totally  or  partially.  .  .  .  Unfounded  as  the  doctrine 
of  State  secession  was,  that  of  State  expulsion  by  the  general 
government,  is,  if  possible,  yet  more  unfounded. 

This  latter  doctrine  was  first  announced  by  Sumner, 
on  February  n,  1862,  but,  in  July,  1861,  Congress  had 
voted  that  the  war  was  not  waged  for  any  purpose  of 
conquest,  or  subjugation,  and  thus  had  pledged  the 
faith  of  the  nation  to  a  contrary  policy.  Under  that 
resolution,  it  mattered  not  how  many  States  seceded, 
and  Senators  and  Representatives  of  such  States,  like 
Andrew  Johnson,  continued  in  Congress.  Under  the 
new  doctrine,  there  might  be  changes  of  boundary,  or 
consolidation  of  the  seceding  States,  and  all  congres 
sional  restrictions  are  destroyed  as  to  them,  while  the 
laws  to  be  applied  to  them  satisfy  an  alleged  public 
justice  and  the  "low  vulgar  passion  of  avarice."  The 
army  makes  no  such  suggestion,  knowing  that  the  South 
can  not  be  properly  governed  as  a  conquered  province 
without  hundreds  of  thousands  of  soldiers.  To  prove 
that  the  States  continue  as  such,  Johnson  referred  to 
the  reapportionment  act,  to  the  admission  of  West 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  153 

Virginia,  to  the  direct  tax  laws,  to  the  appropriations 
for  salaries  of  officers  of  the  Federal  courts,  to  the 
change  of  judicial  circuits  in  the  South,  and  to  the  re 
quirement  that  the  Southern  States  ratify  the  constitu 
tional  amendments.  The  Supreme  Court  entertains 
writs  of  error  from  the  Southern  States,  which  is  con 
clusive  proof  that  the  tribunal  regards  them  as  States. 
The  presidential  plan  of  reconstruction,  "had  it  pre 
vailed,  when  first  announced,  would  long  since  have 
restored  the  Union  and,  thereby,  have  brought  peace, 
prosperity  and  happiness  to  our  now  distracted  land. 
The  Congressional  plan  has  unwisely — and,  I  think,  un 
constitutionally — delayed  these  happy  results  and  prom 
ises  to  delay  them  indefinitely."  It  is  a  most  "inex 
pedient  and  mischievous  proposition,  endangering  the 
South's  great  material  interests,"  and  hence  endangering 
the  whole  nation,  which  must  be  kept  united  to  "lead 
the  world  on  to  freedom."  Southern  men  are  to  be 
trusted.  The  power  to  readmit  their  States  is  not  legis 
lative.  He  even  feared  a  renewal  of  strife  and  suspected 
that  the  party  in  power  wished  to  keep  out  the  Southern 
States  for  party  purposes,  until  after  the  next  presi 
dential  election.  The  "enlightened  sentiment  of  the 
world"  was  with  Johnson,  who  was  only  carrying  out 
Lincoln's  policy,  and  the  threatened  impeachment  and 
suspension  of  the  President,  for  doing  what  half  of  the 
people  approve,  is  alarming.  In  Maryland,  a  large 
majority  of  the  citizens  are  excluded  from  the  franchise, 
and  the  "best  feelings  of  the  heart  are  made  grounds  of 
expulsion  of  voters  from  the  polls."  Even  George  Pea- 
body's  utterances  would  exclude  him  from  voting,  if  he 
resided  in  Maryland.  "The  blood  of  our  patriotic 
ancestors  cries  out  from  the  grave  against"  this  state 
of  affairs.  Its  continuance  is  inconsistent  with  the  vital 


154  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

spirit  of  our  free  institutions.  It  is  absolute  political 
despotism.  Owing  to  "the  wise  and  patriotic  course"  of 
Governor  Swann,  "the  wrongs  are  being  diminished." 
Johnson  believed  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of 
Maryland  as  to  oaths  was  invalid,  being  an  ex  post  facto 
law,  but  the  Court  of  Appeals  decided  in  favor  of  its 
validity,  and  the  hope  is  now  of  relief  from  the  new 
legislature,  or  from  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  If 
it  decides  against  us,  the  majority  of  the  people  have  the 
right,  "  with  or  without  legislative  sanction,"  to  elect  dele 
gates  to  a  convention,  whose  work  should  be  submitted 
to  the  people  to  form  a  new,  or  modify  the  existing, 
Constitution.  Maryland  is  "  happily  located,  geographi 
cally,  with  a  salubrious  climate,  a  fertile  soil,  capable  of 
almost  every  agricultural  product,  exhaustless  supplies 
of  coal  and  iron,  unsurpassed  water  power."  She  needs 
"only  a  free  and  contented  people  to  make  our  State 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  the  Union.  But  all  her 
natural  advantages  will  avail  little,  without  freedom  of 
opinion,  equality  of  rights,  and  kindness  of  feeling."  ^ 
•*'  In^the  winter  of  r866  and  1867,  men  saw  Johnson* 
taking  a  notable  stand.  On  the  one  hand,  he  showed 
the  Senate,  by  masterly  argument,  that  the  President's 
power  to  pardon  was  constitutional  and  could  not  be 
taken  from  him;  he  opposed  "making  a  cipher  of  any 
department  of  government,"  and  he  insisted  that  the 
clause  in  the  Constitution,  guaranteeing  a  republican 
form  of  government  to  each  State,  had  no  possible  refer 
ence  to  negro  suffrage,  but  meant  a  government,  "which 
corresponds  with  the  governments  in  existence  when 
the  Constitution  was  adopted."  On  the  other  hand, 
without  consulting  his  political  friends,  he  introduced 
an  amendment  to  the  reconstruction  act  of  1867,  pro 
viding  that  when  the  Southern  States  should  have 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  155 

adopted  negro  suffrage,  they  should  be  readmitted  to 
the  Union,  inasmuch  as  nothing  could  be  worse  than 
the  present  condition.  Some  time  should  be  set,  at 
which  the  military  dominion  over  these  States  should 
end  and  the  country  truly  become  one.  When  this 
amendment  was  adopted,  Johnson  voted  for  the  bill 
and  did  so  a  second  time,  when  Andrew  Johnson  vetoed 
it,  as  he  believed  that  the  States  should  be  brought 
back,  even  with  negro  suffrage,  and  feared  that  if  this 
bill  failed,  the  temper  of  the  North,  steadily  growing 
sterner,  would  demand  even  harder  terms.  In  March, 
at  the  extra  session,  he  voted  for  the  supplementary 
reconstruction  bill  and  supported  it  over  the  presi 
dential  veto.  But  here  he  stopped  and  returned  to  the 
ranks  of  the  minority.  He  had  always  believed  that 
the  President  would  enforce  the  laws  and,  having  re 
ceived  assurances  to  that  effect  from  him,  protested 
against  the  attempt  to  take  from  him  the  command  of 
the  army. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  Congress72  Johnson 
moved  that  the  bill  to  repeal  the  pardon  act  be  referred 
to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  as  he  took  the  position  that, 
if  the  President  could  pardon  under  the  Constitution 
by  a  general  amnesty,  or  even  if  he  must  pardon  men 
one  by  one,  the  bill  was  not  needed.  He  maintained 
that  the  constitutional  power  of  the  President  to  pardon 
was  as  comprehensive  as  words  can  make  it,  and, 
as  the  Constitution  says  nothing  as  to  how  he  shall 
perform  the  power,  he  may  grant  a  pardon  by  a  general 
or  a  special  proclamation.73 

Washington's  course  after  the  whiskey  insurrection 
and  Hamilton's  language  in  the  Federalist  confirmed 

72  On  December  4. 

73  On  December  17. 


156  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

this  view.  The  power  to  pardon  could  not  well  be  given 
to  two  departments  of  government  and  the  only  control74 
Congress  can  have  over  offenses  created  by  statute  is 
to  repeal  the  statute.  A  pardon  is  matter  in  pais  and 
must  be  proved  to  a  court,  but  a  proclamation  must 
be  noted  by  a  court,  as  the  blockade  proclamation  was 
noted  in  the  prize  case.  The  President,  who  had  implied 
powers  as  well  as  Congress,  may  pardon  conditionally. 
The  clause  authorizing  Congress  to  pass  laws  "  necessary 
and  proper"  has  "no  operation  whatever,"  as  the  courts 
show.  A  power  without  authority  to  carry  it  out  would 
be  a  gross  absurdity.  The  Constitution  was  made  for 
war,  as  well  as  for  peace.  If  the  President,  or  the  Attor 
ney-General,  had  listened  to  Johnson's  advice,  a  gen 
eral  amnesty  would  have  been  declared  long  ago,  except 
in  one  or  two  test  cases,  in  which  the  courts  might 
decide  whether  there  was  a  right  of  secession  and 
whether,  after  the  close  of  an  insurrection  which  was 
so  great  that  it  was  necessary  to  treat  those  engaged 
in  it  as  public  enemies,  they  stood,  as  to  a  charge  of 
treason,  as  subjects  of  another  nation.  As  to  the  first 
question,  Johnson  thought  the  opinion  would  be  unani 
mous;  as  to  the  second,  he  was  in  doubt.  Some  said 
that  when  belligerent  rights  were  granted,  the  commis 
sion  of  treason  became  impossible.  While  the  failure 
to  give  amnesty  is  the  President's,  the  failure  to  try 
those  accused  is  that  of  the  grand  jury  and  of  the 
court.  It  is  a  reproach  that  Jefferson  Davis  had  been 
incarcerated  for  nearly  two  years  without  a  trial.  If  he 
is  a  prisoner  of  war,  he  should  have  been  discharged  at 
the  end  of  the  war.  The  civil  authorities  were  not 
ready  to  take  him  from  the  President.  Reverdy  Johnson 

74  On  January  4. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  157 

would  have  paroled,  or  bailed,  Davis  "long  since"  and 
thought  that,  if  he  should  die  in  prison,  our  responsi 
bility  would  be  like  Napoleon's,  when  he  killed  the  Due 
d'Enghien.  The  apparent  purpose  of  the  repeal  act  is 
that,  "in  the  future,  hard,  inexorable  justice  is  to  be 
meted  out  to  our  Southern  brethren,  that  generosity, 
forgiveness,  mercy,  pardon  are  no  longer  to  be  our 
policy."  Our  subdued  enemies  are  loyal.  Robert  E. 
Lee's  son  recently  refused  to  drink  to  the  fallen  flag, 
while  our  experience  with  Tories,  in  Shay's  Rebellion, 
and  in  the  whiskey  insurrection,  shows  the  value  of 
clemency.  Howe  said  that  John  Brown  had  been  hung 
and  Jefferson  Davis  should  be  hung.  Johnson  responded 
that  he  did  not  attack  the  "humanity,  during  the  war 
of  the  government,"  which  had  no  "more  zealous  sup 
porter"  than  he.  Johnson  had  disapproved  of  hanging 
Brown  and  thought  that  Virginia  lost  hold  on  the  human 
ity  of  the  other  States  through  that  act.  He  thought 
Davis  could  be  tried  in  any  State,  in  which  there  was 
an  overt  act  of  treason  during  the  rebellion,  but  the 
attorney-general  thought  he  could  only  be  tried  in 
Virginia.  Johnson  also  thought  that  a  district  judge 
alone  could  try  capital  cases,  but  Taney  had  held  that 
a  circuit  judge  must  be  present  in  such  trials  and,  as 
the  Supreme  Court  judges  had  not  yet  reassigned  them 
selves,  the  trial  of  Davis  was  further  delayed.  In  spite 
of  Johnson's  efforts,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote 
of  twenty-seven  to  seven.75 

Johnson  was  no  blind  partisan  of  the  executive.  He 
thought  that  pension  agents  should  be  appointed  with 
the  consent  of  the  Senate  and  that  it  would  be  "an 

7i  The  President  probably  agreed  with  Reverdy  Johnson  and  neither  signed 
nor  vetoed  the  bill,  vide  2  Elaine's  Twenty  Years,  p.  282. 


158  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

abuse  of  the  power  of  the  President"  to  reappoint  a 
rejected  man.76  In  another  speech,77  he  said  such  re- 
appointment  would  be  "a  decided  outrage  upon  the 
Constitution,"  as  it  would  enable  the  President  to  destroy 
the  power  of  the  Senate,  by  recess  appointments.  The 
President,  however,  had  a  precedent  for  that  power,  in 
an  opinion  of  the  attorney-general.  Johnson  never  had 
the  question  to  decide  when  he  was  attorney-general, 
but  told  President  Taylor  that,  if  it  came  before  him  as 
an  original  question,  he  would  decide  against  the 
power.  The  matter  was  different  as  to  the  removal  of 
officers.  In  the  first  session  of  Congress,  this  matter 
was  decided  in  favor  of  the  power  of  the  President,  by 
the  casting  vote  of  Vice- President  Adams,  and,  in  Jack 
son's  administration,  the  Senate  and  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  both  acquiesced  in  the  President's  removal 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  while  the  Senate  re 
jected  the  view  that,  in  the  appointment  of  Taney78  as 
Secretary,  the  President  was  guilty  of  usurpation  and 
violation  of  the  contract  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Bank.  If  a  President  reappointed  a  rejected  man, 
he  should  send  to  the  Senate  a  statement  of  reasons, 
such  as  newly  discovered  facts.  It  is  a  serious  question 
whether  continued  reappointment  is  not  ground  for  im 
peachment.  We  should  not  have  a  dual  President.  A 
man  who  always  agrees  with  the  President  ought  not 
to  be  in  the  cabinet.  Johnson  was  not  "for  making  a 
cipher  of  any  department  of  government,  yet  he  felt 
that  it  was  all  important  that  the  executive  should  be 
a  unit,"  in  order  that  the  President  may  see  the  laws 
faithfully  executed.  If  he  has  a  Secretary  of  State  whom 

76  On  January  8. 

77  On  January  10. 

7>  Johnson  thought  the  Senate  was  right. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  159 

he  does  not  trust,  he  should  not  leave  him  in  office  and, 
if  he  suspend  him  and  because  the  Senate  thinks  the 
reason  is  insufficient,  the  Secretary  of  State  should 
remain  in  office,  "the  organ  with  foreign  nations  will 
be  a  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Senate.  So  of  other 
portfolios — no  man  will  take  them  temporarily." 

On  January  II,  Johnson  spoke  upon  the  tenure  of 
office  act,  which  prevented  the  President  from  removing 
officials,  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  provided 
for  the  punishment  of  one  taking  office  contrary  to  the 
act.  Johnson  secured  the  amendment  of  the  act,  by 
permitting  the  President  to  continue  making  recess  ap 
pointments.  Edmunds,  who  had  charge  of  the  measure, 
yielded,  when  Johnson  showed  the  absurdity  and  expense 
of  calling  the  Senate  together,  whenever  there  should 
be  a  death  of  a  district  judge  or  a  minister  who  was 
carrying  an  important  negotiation  with  a  foreign  court. 
The  Constitution  had  not  so  intended.  The  Senate79  is 
part  of  the  appointing  power  and,  if  the  possession  of 
that  power  carries  the  possibility  of  abuse,  it  shares 
in  that  possibility.  Commentators  say  that  the  legisla 
ture  is  more  apt  to  usurp  power  than  the  President. 

Few  agreed  with  President  Johnson,  who  followed 
Lincoln's  policy  as  to  the  Southern  States.  In  our  gov 
ernment  there  will  be  parties,  but  the  Senate  was  merely 
trying  to  secure  a  party  end,  when  it  provided  that,  if 
the  President  reappoints  those  rejected  by  the  Senate, 
they  shall  have  no  salary.  John  Adams  had  said80  that 
he  thought  that  there  would  be  danger  from  the  Senate's 
wishing  to  use  its  influence  for  its  political  friends  and 
against  its  enemies.  After  the  election  of  1828,  Clay 
and  the  Whigs  found  fault  with  Jackson  for  his  removals, 

7a  On  January  15. 
80  Vide  2  Story  394. 


I6O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

following  Marcy's  "mischievous  doctrine"  that  "to  the 
victor  belong  the  spoils,"  but  the  people  voted  that  the 
President  was  clothed  with  that  power.  Williams  of 
Oregon  had  cited  Hamilton  as  writing,  in  the  Federalist, 
that  the  Senate  must  join  in  removals.  As  DeWitt 
remarks,81  "  It  was  a  dangerous  experiment  to  cite  author 
ities  when  Reverdy  Johnson  was  to  reply,"  for  he  proved 
that  Hamilton  changed  his  mind,  after  he  became  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury.82  After  an  examination  of 
cases,83  he  warned  the  Senate  that  these  acts  may  cause 
revolution,  as  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  did. 

A  latitudinarian  construction  of  the  Constitution,  the  absorp 
tion  of  nearly  all  power  into  the  legislative  department  of  the 
government,  an  unwillingness  to  submit  to  the  judgment,  an 
interference  with  what  may  have  heretofore  been  considered  the 
legitimate  powers  of  the  President  ....  these  are  the 
symptoms  of  the  times. 

He  appealed  to  reason  and  to  the  ballots  and  believed 
that,  when  the  excitement  was  over,  the  "Constitution 
will  be  restored  in  all  its  integrity  and  each  department 
of  the  government  be  permitted  to  exercise  every  power 
which  the  Constitution,  as  construed  in  the  past,  vests 
in  it."84  On  the  eighteenth,  he  made  another  powerful 
address.  He  was  "no  party  friend  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term." 
The  President  has  erred,  but  he  is  honest  and  patriotic 
and  has  fallen  in  the  estimation  of  the  Representatives, 

81  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  p.  186. 

82  See  also  speech  of  January  16. 

^Marbury  v.  Madison;  Dred  Scott  Case,  which  did  not  deny  presidential 
power  to  remove;  U.  S.  v.  Guthrie  17  Howard;  Ex  Parte  Hennen  13  Peters 
250.  He  also  then  and  on  January  14  defended  Madison  and  Jefferson  for 
their  acts  in  1798  and  maintained  that  neither  contemplated  nullification. 

84  On  January  17,  Johnson's  irenical  disposition  was  shown  in  his  smoothing 
down  trouble  between  McDougall  and  Sumner. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  l6l 

"because  a  new  state  of  things  has  arisen,"  since  his 
election,  "in  which  he  differs  from  the  men  by  whom 
he  was  elevated  to  power."  Johnson  believed  that  the 
President  would  rejoice  to  have  peace  and  harmony. 
He  had  been  "true  to  his  duty  to  the  country,  according 
to  his  understanding"  of  it,  had  tried  to  make  the  United 
States  the  honor  and  admiration  of  the  world,  and  had 
endeavored  to  secure  to  each  individual  his  rights.  The 
President  had  said  many  things  he  had  better  left  unsaid 
and  was  by  nature  impetuous.  "Sprung  from  the  hum 
blest  walks  of  life  and  uneducated,"  he  made  too  many 
stump  speeches,  but  he  never  quailed  before  difficulties. 
During  the  war  he  had  been  patriotic  and,  as  President, 
he  had  tried  to  reorganize  the  States,  as  Lincoln  had, 
and  to  have  them  brought  into  the  Union  at  once.  He 
submitted  to  the  overriding  of  his  veto.  Sumner  said 
he  should  be  "kicked  out"  and  then,  in  righteous  indig 
nation,  Johnson  rebuked  him  as  having  put  himself  out 
of  the  pale  of  Andrew  Johnson's  judges,  if  the  threats 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  impeach  him  were 
carried  out.  Sumner  was  a  friend  of  Lincoln  and  never 
objected  to  his  turning  men  out,  and  he  should  not 
now  have  attacked  the  President  as  he  did,  since  he  thus 
.prejudged  the  case.85 

For  the  last  time,  Johnson  spoke  upon  the  tenure  of 
office  bill  upon  February  6.  He  referred  again  to  the 
removals  of  cabinet  officers  by  Jackson  and  asked 
whether  we  should  allow  precedent  to  rule,  or  always 
reopen  questions.  Cabinet  officers  are  not  appointed  to 
thwart,  but  to  aid  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  proposed  to  say  to  any  President,  "who  may  have 
been  mistaken  in  relation  to  the  character  or  the  ability 

85  He  showed  Edmunds  that  his  amendments  would  prevent  men  appointed 
during  a  session  from  holding  office  until  its  end. 


1 62  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

of  the  men  whom  he  had  selected  to  advise  him,"  that 
he  shall  not  change  them. 

When  Sumner  attacked  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
in  the  debate  on  the  legislative  appropriation  bill,86 
Johnson  came  to  his  defense  and  praised  him  for  refus 
ing  to  change  employes  for  political  reasons.  It  is  a 
vice  to  appoint  men,  "who  had  nothing  to  recommend 
them  but  mere  party  services,  in  some  ward  controversy 
or  some  county  controversy."  These  assaults  on  high 
officials,  unless  founded  on  well  ascertained  facts,  serve 
no  purpose  whatever,  but  to  injure  the  good  name  of 
the  country.87  He  stated  his  regret,  in  another  speech,88 
that  Motley,  our  minister  to  Austria,  should  have  spoken 
disrespectfully  of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  should  have  expressed  an  opinion  hostile  to 
the  republican  form  of  government  and  favorable  to 
monarchy. 

Johnson  favored89  a  six  years'  term  for  the  President 
without  reelection  and  felt  there  was  no  danger  for  the 
liberties  of  the  people  in  the  change,  for  it  was  clear 
that  the  President  was  impotent  to  carry  out  a  policy 
against  Congress.  The  President  is  the  constitutional 
commander  of  the  army  and  a  provision  in  a  bill  that 
the  general  of  the  army  shall  have  headquarters  in 
Washington  and  that  no  orders  of  a  military90  character 
shall  be  issued,  except  in  accordance  with  this  bill,  is 
unconstitutional.  Fessenden  said  that  the  people  are 

86  On  February  7. 

87  On  December  20,  Williams  of  Oregon  objected  to  receiving  anonymous 
letters,  because  the  clerks'  pay  had  not  been  raised,  and  Johnson,  sympathizing 
with  him,  managed  to  include  in  his  speech  a  defense  of  the  Supreme  Court  from 
attacks  in  the  Republican  newspapers,  because  of  the  decision  in  Ex  parts 
Milligan. 

88  On  February  2. 

89  On  February  n. 

90  On  February  26. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  163 

sovereign,  that  they  have  retained  sovereignty  over  the 
army  and  that  the  legislative  department  is  the  one  in 
which  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  the  people  is  placed. 
Johnson  quickly  responded: 

In  one  sense,  the  people  is  sovereign.  They  can,  in  constitu 
tional  mode,  change  their  political  institutions  from  time  to 
time;91  but,  in  the  exercise  of  their  sovereignty,  it  is  for  them 
to  decide  how,  in  any  particular  constitution,  that  sovereignty 
shall  be  exercised  and  they  have  delegated  such  portion  of  it 
as  they  thought  proper  to  delegate  to  each  of  the  three  depart 
ments  of  the  government.  To  Congress  are  intrusted  "the 
particular  legislative  powers,"  to  the  President  the  whole  execu 
tive  power  and  the  commandership  in  chief  of  the  army,  even 
against  the  will  of  Congress.  If  Lincoln,  or  any  other  man 
who  had  the  confidence  of  Congress,  were  alive,  no  such  law 
would  have  been  passed.  If  the  President  should  order  Gen 
eral  Grant  to  leave  Washington  and  he  should  refuse,  the 
President  could  not  go  himself  and  issue  orders,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  bill.  To  depart  from  the  Constitution,  under 
any  circumstances,  is  hazardous.  I  said  during  the  existence 
of  the  rebellion,  and  I  repeat  it  now,  that,  if  I  had  been  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  I  would  have  often  done  acts 
which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  would  not  have 
authorized,  if,  in  my  judgment,  I  believed  they  were  necessary 
to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  government. 

For  this  reason,  he  had  voted  for  recent  measures  of 
reconstruction  and,  in  spite  of  censure,  would  do  so 
again,  if  necessary,  to  escape  from  a  revolutionary  con 
dition.  This  bill  was  not  necessary.92 

Johnson  held  that  the  bill  for  the  payment  of  claims 
in  insurrectionary  States  should  include  citizens  in  such 
territory  as  Louisiana,  which  was  in  possession  of  the 

91  Johnson  showed  that  Sumner  was  mistaken  in  quoting  Kent. 

92  The  obnoxious  clause  was  carried  by  vote  of  28  to  8. 


1 64  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

United  States  from  the  early  part  of  1862  and  which 
contained  many  loyal  men,  or,  indeed,  in  any  territory 
which  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Union  forces 
during  the  war  and  so  continued  until  its  end.93  He 
maintained  that  a  pardon  reinstated94  a  person  to  the 
condition  he  occupied  prior  to  his  offence  and  that  it 
was  wrong  to  refuse  to  pay  disloyal  pardoned  men 
claims  accruing  before  the  rebellion.  Loyal  men  are 
creditors  of  the  South  and  rely  on  these  claims  to  meet 
part  of  their  debt.  Whether  the  claims  were  assigned 
to  loyal  men  before  or  after  the  rebellion  mattered  not, 
for  the  United  States  should  not  confiscate  debts  because 
the  creditor  had  at  one  time  been  guilty  of  treason, 
when  the  confiscation  would  injure  a  loyal  man.95  A 
few  days  later,  an  interesting  colloquy,  showing  John 
son's  courtesy,  took  place  between  him  and  Trumbull. 
Johnson  said  it  was  our  duty  to  pay  assessors  who  acted 
in  1865,  but  could  not  take  the  oath.  Trumbull  re 
marked  that  this  was  demoralizing,  as  it  was  equivalent 
to  saying  that  the  man  should  be  paid,  whether  he 
collected  the  money  illegally  or  not.  Johnson  replied, 
with  asperity,  that,  in  reading  him  a  lecture,  Trumbull 
was  lecturing  three-fourths  of  the  Senate,  who  "may 
have  as  nice  a  sense  of  morals  and  honor"  as  he.  Trum 
bull  retorted  that  Johnson,  with  "all  his  self-compla 
cency,"  cannot  have  forgotten  that  he  raised  the  point 
of  morals,  and  Johnson  closed  the  incident  with  a  soft 
answer  that  he  never  knew  Trumbull  when  he  was  not 
right  on  questions  of  morals  or  law,  "and  I  sometimes 
doubt  whether  I  am."96 

93  On  February  5. 

94  On  February  23. 

95  Johnson,  in  vain,  voted  against  the  resolution  which  passed,  25  to  6. 

96  The  amendment  then  passed,  33  to  13. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  165 

On  the  bill  providing  for  the  government  of  the  South 
ern  States,97  Johnson  offered  the  Elaine  amendment  to 
the  effect  that,  when  in  any  State,  the  Fourteenth  Amend 
ment  had  been  adopted  and  the  franchise  given  to  all 
male  citizens  (except  felons  and  traitors)  and  a  new 
constitution  adopted,  the  State  shall  be  readmitted. 
He  believed  the  Senate  was  independent  and  was  bound 
to  exercise  its  own  discretion  without  regard  to  the  fear 
that,  with  that  proviso,  the  House  might  defeat,  or  the 
President  veto,  the  bill.  He  acted  "  without  consulting 
the  political  friends,  with  whom  it  is  my  pleasure  gen 
erally  to  act."  Differing  from  the  majority  of  the  Sen 
ate,  he  held  that  the  Southern  States  are  now  in  the 
Union  and  that  the  citizens  of  these  States  are  entitled 
to  all  Constitutional  guarantees  of  personal  liberty." 
When  the  Civil  War  ceased,  the  power  to  suppress  insur 
rection,  under  which  the  Federal  government  carried  on 
the  struggle,  came  to  an  end.  The  executive  and  judi 
cial  departments  have  recognized  the  Southern  States. 
If  Virginia  has  not  been  a  State  since  secession,  she 
could  not  consent  to  the  division  of  her  territory  and 
so  West  Virginia  is  no  State.  Men  have  an  instinctive 
repugnance  to  military  rule.  The  reconstruction  bill  of 
1866  was  intended  to  "  provide  for  restoring  the  States 
lately  in  insurrection  to  their  political  rights."  Now 
there  is  no  insurrection,  nor  do  occasional  acts  of  vio 
lence,  nor  the  fact  that  the  murderer  of  a  black  man 
can  not  be  punished,  constitute  it.  He  believed  there 
was  less  crime  in  the  South  than  in  Massachusetts  or 
New  York.  In  Oregon,  the  constitutional  convention, 
of  which  Senator  Williams  had  been  a  member,  had 
provided  that  no  negro  should  come  into  the  State  and 
yet  Oregon  received  no  military  government.  The  war 

97  On  February  15. 


1 66  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

had  convinced  the  Southern  people  that  their  peculiar 
notions  of  State  sovereignty  can  not  be  maintained  and 
they  are  now  loyal.  Military  despotism  for  the  South 
is  now  proposed,  indefinite  in  length;  but,  with  this 
amendment,  the  bill  provides  for  the  termination  of  that 
despotism.  Is  the  Supreme  Court  to  be  told  that  they 
shall  not  issue  a  habeas  corpus  writ?  Johnson  applauded 
the  statement  of  the  chief  justice  that  he  would  not 
hold  court  in  a  State  where  martial  law  prevailed. 
Johnson  should  vote  against  the  bill,  if  amended,  as 
he  believed  the  Federal  government  had  no  right  to 
control  suffrage  in  the  States;  but,  with  the  amendment, 
the  bill  would  be  less  objectionable.  He  closed  with  a 
defense  of  the  law-abiding  character  of  Maryland. 

On  February  20,  he  spoke  again  upon  the  bill.  Hold 
ing  that  the  South  had  the  right  to  be  represented,  he 
had  solicitude  beyond  words  on  account  of  its  exclusion; 
but,  since  Congress  took  a  different  view,  there  seemed 
no  hope  of  seeing  it  reinstated  at  an  early  day.  The 
reputation  and  the  material  interests  of  the  whole  coun 
try  suffer.  Nothing  could  be  worse  than  the  condition 
in  which  the  South  was  placed.  The  character  of  the 
Southerners,  "as  men,  had  been  aspersed,  in  terms  which 
have  caused  me  nothing  but  the  deepest  regret  .... 
In  all  particulars,  moral  and  political,  intellectual  and 
Christian,  they  are  our  equals.  The  very  battles  they 
have  waged,  in  seeking  to  destroy  the  government, 
exhibited  deeds  of  valor,  of  which  Rome  in  her  proudest 
days  might  have  boasted."  Johnson  had  reconsidered 
his  position  of  opposition  to  the  bill.  He  must  acquiesce 
in  the  decision  of  the  majority,  "  believing  it  will  end, 
in  a  comparatively  short  time,  in  restoring  the  Southern 
States.  I  am  unwilling  to  have  this  Congress  adjourn, 
without  adopting  some  measure  which  holds  out  hope 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  167 

that  this  will  be  the  result  of  our  deliberations."  He 
would  vote  for  the  bill,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  "rescue 
the  country  from  the  perilous  predicament"  in  which 
it  stood.  "If  there  be  a  feeling  which  should  animate 
the  heart  of  every  American,  it  should  be  one  of  gener 
osity,  magnanimity  and  charity  for  the  men  who,  al 
though  they  sought  to  break  asunder  the  cords  of  the 
Union,  are  now  looking  with  solicitude  to  their  being 
reinstated."  He  longed  to  see  the  United  States,  "at 
the  earliest  period,  a  people  one  and  indivisible." 

The  supporters  of  the  President  were  enraged  at  this 
change  of  base  and  Gideon  Welles  wrote  in  his  diary98 
that  Johnson,  "the  Senatorial  trimmer,  gave  his  vote 
in  the  Senate  for  this  infamous  bill."  Stan  ton  quoted 
him  as  an  example  and  authority.  The  President  vetoed 
the  bill  and  it  passed  over  the  veto,  the  vote  in  the 
Senate,  on  March  2,  being  38  to  10.  In  explaining  his 
vote  against  the  veto,  Johnson  said  that  he  regretted 
the  conclusion  and  tone  of  the  veto  message,  which 
contained  unsound  legal  propositions  and  errors  of  rea 
soning,  and  feared  that  it  may  result  in  continued  tur 
moil  and  peril.  When  Johnson  announced  that  "I 
shall  give  the  same  vote  as  before,"  there  was  applause 
from  the  galleries,  until  checked  by  the  President.  John 
son,  in  an  eloquent  speech,  said  he  was  not  governed 
by  desire  of  applause. 

My  motions,  if  I  know  myself,  were  pure  and  patriotic.  I 
see  before  me  a  distressed,  a  desolated  country  and,  in  the 
measure  before  you  I  think  I  see  the  means  through  which 
it  may  be  rescued  and  restored  ere  long  to  prosperity  and  a 
healthful  condition  and  the  free  institutions  of  our  country 

preserved I  have  reached  that  period  of  life,  when 

I  can  have  no  other  ambition  than  that  of  serving  my  country. 

M  February7  2,  Diary  III,  p.  49. 


1 68  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

He  had  always  hoped  for  success  and  a  firm  establish 
ment  of  the  forms  of  government,  securing  their  respec 
tive  rights  to  the  States  and  the  Union.  If  the  South 
"  had  succeeded,  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  would 
for  years,  if  not  forever,  have  terminated.  The  effort, 
thank  God,  failed.  The  power  of  the  government,  under 
the  Providence  of  God,  has  proved  able  to  arrest  and 
defeat  it  and  the  South  now,  as  I  believe,  is  willing,  in 
good  faith,  and  anxious  to  abide  by  the  result."  How 
shall  the  government  be  restored  "to  its  original  integ 
rity  and  the  States,  as  vital  to  that  integrity,  be  restored 
to  their  former  constitutional  condition."  Johnson  be 
lieved  that,  at  the  moment  when  the  war  ended,  the 
States  were  in  the  Union  and  possessed  the  exclusive 
power  to  change  their  government,  so  that  "no  terms 
can  be  enacted,  either  by  the  President  or  by  Congress, 
as  conditions  to  be  performed,  before  they  are  entitled 
to  representation."  He  had  never  justified  the  position 
of  Lincoln,  nor  of  Johnson,  who  held  that  the  executive, 
without  the  sanction  of  Congress,  had  authority  to 
require  conditions  of  readmission.  The  recent  Congres 
sional  elections  show  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
agree  to  the  Congressional  theory  that  that  body  could 
alone  give  the  right  of  representation,  so  the  States  are 
only  to  be  restored  by  submitting  to  the  Congressional 
conditions.  Johnson,  differing  both  with  Congress  and 
the  Executive,  sought  "complete  restoration  of  the 
Union"  and  saw  "no  way  of  accomplishing  it,  but  by 
the  adoption  of  the  measure."  The  country  is  now  in 
a  state  of  quasi-war,  for  ten  States  are  held  as  conquered 
provinces.  This  condition  is  full  of  peril  and,  if  not 
arrested,  the  government  will  be  destroyed.  The  bill 
is  no  more  unconstitutional  than  the  civil  rights  and 
Freedman's  Bureau  bills,  which  the  President  enforced, 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  169 

"as  I  think  he  was  in  duty  bound  to  do."  The  Supreme 
Court  may  well  refuse  to  decide  on  the  constitutionality 
of  the  bill,  holding  that  the  termination  of  the  war  is  a 
political  question.  The  bill  is  less  objectionable  than 
the  previous  ones,  for  it  provides  a  way  for  ending  the 
military  rule.  Reflecting  and  intelligent  men  of  the 
South  say  they  will  organize  States  under  this  act.  If 
the  bill  fail,  one  of  harsher  character  will  be  adopted, 
founded  on  "the  hypothesis  that  the  people  of  the  South 
were  to  be  esteemed  legally  as  conquered  enemies  and 
their  land  and  other  property  on  that  account,  as  liable 
to  confiscation  and  forfeiture."  The  Supreme  Court 
might  declare  such  a  law  unconstitutional,  but,  in  the 
meantime,  the  uncertainty  would  produce  ruin  and,  if 
the  law  proved  constitutional,  the  South  would  be  sur 
rendered  to  negroes  and  the  whites  driven  out.  Johnson 
wished  to  prevent  calamity  and  must  throw  aside  party 
for  country,  seeking  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  which 
he  believed  would  be  accomplished  by  this  bill.  Buck- 
alew  attacked  Johnson's  position  as  inconsistent  and 
Johnson  replied: 

Consistency  in  a  public  man  can  never  properly  be  esteemed 
a  virtue,  when  he  becomes  satisfied  that  it  will  operate  to  the 
prejudice  of  his  country.  The  pride  of  opinion,  which  more 
or  less  belongs  to  us  all,  becomes,  in  my  judgment,  in  a  public 
man  a  crime,  when  it  is  indulged  in  at  the  sacrifice,  or  hazard, 
of  the  public  safety. 

The  President  and  the  minority  party  were  powerless 
and  the  question  confronting  Johnson  was:  "What  shall 
I  do  for  the  South  in  this  present  exigency  and  for  the 
country?"  He  had  no  fear  to  submit  his  conduct  to 
the  judgment  of  posterity.  He  would  have  rejoiced  at 
a  Democratic  victory  in  the  past  autumn,  but  there  was 


I7O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

none.  Since  the  Supreme  Court  said  the  insurrection 
was  a  war  and  one  of  the  incidents  of  war  is  confisca 
tion,  that  Court  may  also  say  it  is  a  political  question, 
if  Congress  holds  the  Southerners  to  be  public  enemies 
and  thus  the  South  may  be  destroyed. 

In  his  disgust  at  Johnson's  action,  Welles  bitterly 
wrote"  that  in  the  Senate  ''party  dominated  over 
country."  If  several  hesitated,  "the  recent  extraordi 
nary  course  of  Reverdy  Johnson  decided  them  to  submit 
to  the  demands  of  party."  Johnson  violated  his  oath 
in  voting  for  the  bill,  and  "his  apostasy"  came,  because 
his  son-in-law  was  an  "earnest  candidate  for  the  office 
of  district-attorney  of  Maryland  and  he  could  not, 
under  existing  circumstances,  expect  to  be  confirmed  by 
the  Senate  were  the  President  to  nominate  him."  Welles 
thought  that  Johnson  fancied  "that  his  position  as 
Senator,  and  one  of  the  judges  of  the  President  in  case 
of  impeachment,"  would  secure  the  selection  of  his  son- 
in-law.  In  his  rage,  Welles  added: 

I  have  no  doubt  this  old  political  prostitute  has  been  governed 
by  these  necessary  personal  considerations.  He  has  a  good 
deal  of  legal  ability  but  is  not  overburdened  with  political 
principles.  This  conduct  occasions  less  surprise  on  that  ac 
count.  Sad  is  the  condition  of  the  country,  when  such  men 
influence  its  destiny. 

On  the  next  day,  Welles  wrote  that  the  President  told 
him100  that  Reverdy  Johnson  had  just  written,  asking 
that  his  son-in-law,  Ridgely,  be  nominated  as  district- 
attorney,  which  was  "as  cool  a  piece  of  assurance  as 
he  had  ever  witnessed."  Welles  added  "It  does  not 
surprise  me,"  and,  on  the  next  day,  when  Ridgely  had 

99  Diary  III  55. 
180  Diary  III  58. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  171 

been  nominated  and  confirmed,  Welles  wrote101  that  he 
wondered  who  influenced  the  "forbearing"  President, 
and  added  in  his  Diary,  "so  much  for  disregarding  prin 
ciple,  conviction  and  duty." 

When  it  was  proposed  to  admit  Nebraska  as  a  State102 
and  to  require  negro  suffrage  there,103  Johnson  delivered 
an  elaborate  historical  address,  discussing  the  right  to 
make  such  a  requirement  through  the  power  to  admit  new 
States  and  guarantee  a  republican  form  of  government. 
He  discussed  the  history  of  the  change  of  the  predominant 
interest  in  the  eastern  States  from  commerce  to  manu 
factures,  through  the  influence  of  the  war  of  1812  and 
the  protective  policy  since  that  date.  During  the  last 
five  years,  the  United  States  had  passed  through  "a 
trial,  to  which  no  country  in  the  world  was  ever  before 
subjected,"  during  which  "everything  was  supplied  that 
human  industry  could  furnish,  every  species  of  manu 
facture  entering  into  the  necessities  of  an  army  in  the 
field  was  near  at  hand,  fashioned  by  the  skillful  industry 
of  the  workmen  of  the  United  States."  He  admitted 
that  the  system  "increases,  in  time  of  peace,  the  cost 
to  the  consumer  of  everything  which  he  is  obliged  to 
get  from  the  manufacturer"  and  that  it  is  difficult  to 
say  how  much  of  that  tax  the  consumer  paid,  but  the 
protective  system  was  so  useful  to  the  country  that  he 
was  very  cautious  about  admitting  new  States  in  the 
West,  which  seemed  to  turn  to  free  trade.  Nebraska, 

1W  Diary  III  59. 

lw  On  January  29,  he  voted  to  sustain  Johnson  in  his  veto  of  the  bill  admit 
ting  Colorado  as  a  State. 

103  On  December  19.  On  the  i7th  the  bill  had  come  up  and  Johnson  asked 
that  a  notice  of  the  death  of  Wright  of  New  Jersey  might  be  made  and  questioned 
what  would  happen,  if  the  ten  days,  during  which  the  President  might  hold  a 
bill,  fell  within  a  recess  of  Congress. 


172  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

with  not  over  50,000  people,  had  too  small  a  population 
for  a  State,  in  any  case,  and  had  better  be  kept  a  terri 
tory,  unless  it  were  necessary  for  the  protection  of  her 
citizens  to  have  her  admitted  as  a  State.  The  North 
cannot  say  this,  for  they  propose  to  place  ten  States 
under  a  territorial  government,  and  the  only  argument 
for  admission  remaining  is  the  desire  to  protect  a  politi 
cal  party. 

"Nullification  is  at  an  end,  thank  God  for  that,  seces 
sion  is  equally  dead"  and  the  South  will  never  leave  the 
Union,  but  the  great  West  should  be  looked  to,  for  she 
will  not  long  consent  to  have  the  East  manage  her 
affairs  and,  if  a  constitutional  convention  be  ever  called 
and  the  West  have  a  majority  in  it,  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  her  from  insisting  on  a  change  of  the  equal 
representation  in  the  Senate  of  the  States.  When  Ne 
braska  is  admitted,  she  may  disregard  the  restriction 
on  the  right  to  regulate  the  franchise,  for  that  is  a  sub 
ject  in  the  power  of  a  State  and  Nebraska,  being  equal 
with  the  older  States,  will  possess  all  their  powers.104 
Before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  States  were 
equal  and  that  document  changed  nothing,  except  to 
delegate  certain  powers  to  the  United  States.  It  would 
lead  to  very  perilous  consequences  to  hold  that  a  State 
constitution  was  unrepublican,  which  denied  to  any  citi 
zen  the  right  to  vote.  The  Federal  Convention  had  not 
for  its  object  to  change  the  forms  of  the  State  govern 
ments,  but  to  preserve  and  protect  life,  liberty  and  happi 
ness,  which  the  declaration  of  independence  said  were 
inalienable  rights  of  the  people  and  which  were  thought 
to  be  in  imminent  jeopardy,  because  of  the  demon 
strated  inefficiency  of  the  government  of  the  Confeder- 

104  Brown  interrupted  with  the  statement  that  "  we  can  take  away  the  right 
to  do  wrong",  and  Johnson  asked  him  what  that  right  was. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  173 

ation.  Contemporary  construction  is  controlling,  to  the 
effect  that  the  Federal  Constitution  made  it  no  duty  of 
the  United  States  to  assail  every  State  constitution. 
Even  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  of  the  last  session,  by 
drafting  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  showed  they 
thought  they  had  no  power  in  the  matter.  Pushing  the 
point  further,  he  asked  whether,  if  Oregon  would  be 
forced  to  permit  the  Chinese  to  vote  under  the  guarantee 
clause,  the  Pacific  Coast  would  not  soon  become  disloyal 
and  exercise  ''that  inherent  right  which  belongs  to  every 
State  and  every  people  to  war  against  tyranny."  The 
term  "Government"  does  not  mean  the  Constitution, 
but  those  exercising  the  power.  The  guarantee  clause 
means  that,  "whenever  the  criminal  ambition  of  those 
who  are  in  the  possession"  of  the  government  "induces 
them  to  pervert  its  powers  and  to  assail  the  people, 
the  people  are  to  be  protected  against  any  change  in 
the  form  of  government  that  may  be  brought  about  by 
such  causes."  "Every  government  is  republican  in 
point  of  form,  which  corresponds  with  the  governments 
in  existence  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted."  Most 
of  these  governments,  in  1789,  excluded  the  black  man 
from  voting.  No  one  then  thought  that  the  United 
States  was  given  a  right  to  interfere  with  the  existing 
conditions  and  a  different  view  of  the  Constitution  would 
place  the  country  in  the  power  of  Congress,  which  might 
destroy  it.  Otherwise, 

I  have  no  fear  but  that  the  political  institutions  of  the  United 
States  will  endure  for  ages,  and  I  trust  forever,  extending  as 
they  do  from  ocean  to  ocean,  distributing  their  blessings 
everywhere  and  enabling  men,  with  perfect  assurance,  to  feel 
mo  apprehension,  and  that  they  never  will  be  called  upon  to 
feel  any  apprehension  against  any  violence  from  within,  or 
anv  invasion  from  abroad. 


174  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Some  weeks  later105  he  opposed  Edmunds,  who  had 
said  that  Congress  might  keep  Nebraska  as  a  territory 
forever  and  might  impose  whatever  condition  the  mem 
bers  pleased,  at  the  time  of  admission.  Johnson  replied 
that  the  power  of  Congress  was  to  admit  a  new  State, 
that  is  one 

partaking  precisely  of  all  the  characteristics,  and  possessing 
all  the  powers,  and  having  all  the  rights  that  characterize  and 
are  possessed  by  the  States  that  were  in  the  Union,  when  the 
Constitution  was  ratified.  Otherwise  there  would  be  no  har 
monious  whole.  There  is  no  provision  in  the  Constitution 
which  gave  Congress  the  power  to  interfere  with  elections,  as 
is  shown  by  the  provision  that  the  electors  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  should  be  the  same  as  for  the  most  numerous 
house  of  the  State  legislatures. 

Johnson  had  just  won  in  the  Supreme  Court,  for  hold 
ers  of  Arkansas  swamp  lands,  a  case,  in  which  they 
claimed  exemption  from  taxation.  He  held  that  a  State 
might  "enter  into  a  contract,"  not  alone  in  relation  to 
the  right  of  taxation,  but  also  "  in  relation  to  any  subject 
which  did  not  impair  her  sovereignty  and  take  away  her 
ability  to  hold  an  equal  place  among  her  sister  States." 
Nebraska  had  already  elected  her  Senators  and,  if  the 
bill  for  admission  of  Nebraska  pass,  Edmunds  will  not 
object  to  swearing  in  these  men,  which  fact  showed 
that,  in  a  sense,  Nebraska  is  already  a  State.  Congress 
cannot  create  a  State.  "It  must  be  the  work  of  the 
citizens."  The  follower  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  had 
not  recanted  from  the  creed  of  popular  sovereignty. 

When  Sumner  asked  for  further  guarantees  before 
reconstruction  be  completed,106  Johnson  replied  that 
there  should  be  delay,  to  see  if  the  South  would  accept 

186  On  January  9. 
1MOn  March  n. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  175 

the  previous  exaction.  He  had  assured  Southern  corre 
spondents  that  nothing  more  would  be  required  and 
hoped  not  to  have  to  retract  this  statement.  The 
Southerners  had  been  punished  and  both  the  loyal  men 
and  the  freedmen  will  be  safe  under  the  bill  already 
passed.  Sumner  wished  to  see  the  South  restored,  but 
wished  to  see  those  States  "come  back"  by  the  vote  of 
the  blacks  just  emancipated  and  that  of  some  three  or 
four  thousand  men,  calling  themselves  loyal  men,  many 
of  whom  in  the  beginning  were  Secessionists,  " while  the 
intelligence,  the  virtue,  the  refinement  of  the  South  is 
to  be  neglected."  From  that  course  of  action  the  horrors 
of  Santo  Domingo  may  come.107  In  the  debate  on  the 
supplementary  reconstruction  bill,  Johnson  urged  that 
we  cannot  subsist  long  with  ten  States  out  of  the  Union. 
It  is  a  government  of  States  and  it  was  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  bring  back  the  rebel  States  as  soon  as  possi 
ble.  "There  did  not  exist,  in  the  States  of  the  Union, 
any  authority  by  which  they  could  legally  escape  from 
the  Union."  "The  attempt  to  escape,  therefore,  was  of 
itself  illegal  and  imposed  upon  us  the  duty  of  arresting 
and  defeating  it,  not  for  the  mere  purpose  of  arresting 
and  defeating  an  insurrection,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  the  Union."  The  authority  to  add  territory 
was  only  that  the  people  of  the  territory  might  be  fitted 
for  Statehood  and  we  are  guardians  for  them.  If  there 
is  a  majority  in  one  of  the  seceded  States  "inimical  to 
a  restoration  of  that  particular  State,"  that  majority 
should  be  forced  in.  Howard  of  Michigan  had  said 
no  government,  founded  on  the  will  of  a  minority,  can 
be  republican,  yet  he  voted  to  exclude  a  large  portion 
of  the  people  of  these  States  from  voting.  To  continue 

107  On  March  9,  he  defended  Alexandria  for  excluding  the  blacks  from  voting, 
on  the  advice  of  all  the  lawyers  in  that  town. 


176  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

military  rule  will  be  expensive  and  will  sacrifice  the 
principles  of  freedom  and  liberty  upon  which  our  insti 
tutions  rest.  The  majority  of  those  voting,  and  not 
of  the  electors,  should  be  sufficient  to  adopt  the  new 
Southern  State  constitutions,  lest108  some  whites  may  pre 
fer  to  keep  the  States  under  military  rule  and  may  induce 
negroes  to  stay  away  from  the  polls  by  misrepresenta 
tions,  as  these  negroes  are  in  a  "state  of  absolute  igno 
rance,  by  the  policy  of  the  South  for  the  past  twenty 
years,  lest  the  institution  be  in  peril  through  the  knowl 
edge  of  what  were  the  rights  of  man."  A  State  govern 
ment  should  not  be  forced  on  an  intelligent  people,  but 
the  negroes,  whom  Johnson  was  willing  to  permit  to 
vote,  were  not  intelligent. 

I  vote  for  the  original  bill,  or  the  amended  report  by  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,109  from  a  sincere  desire  to  have 
the  States  back,  on  almost  any  terms.  I  would  not  be  in  favor 
of  negro  suffrage,  if  I  was  permitted  to  vote  upon  that  ques 
tion  alone,  but  I  believe  that  the  interest  of  the  country  requires 
that  the  States  should  be  back,  even  requiring  negro  suffrage. 

Persistent  in  his  opposition  to  a  requirement  that  a 
majority  of  the  registry  be  cast  for  the  proposed  constitu 
tions,  he  carried  a  narrow  majority  of  the  Senate  with 
him.110 

His  patriotism  was  again  shown  when  he  voted  to 
pass  the  completed  supplementary  reconstruction  bill 
over  the  President's  veto.111  He  had  been  so  assidu 
ous  in  devotion  to  the  business  of  Congress  that  he 
objected  to  an  adjournment  over  the  holidays,112  yet  he 

198  On  March  16.  ul  On  March  23. 

109  On  March  18.  »»  On  December  14. 

110  The  vote  was  24  to  21. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  177 

denied  Sumner's113  assertion  that,  on  the  adjournment 
of  the  session  at  the  end  of  March,  eight  million  people 
were  left  unprotected  and  subject  to  a  despot,  as  well 
as  Chandler's  claim  that  the  President  would  not  exe 
cute  the  reconstruction  laws,  on  the  ground  that  he 
thought  them  unconstitutional.  Reverdy  Johnson  had 
talked  with  the  President  and  had  been  told  by  him 
that  it  was  an  insult  to  suppose  he  would  not  execute  a 
law  passed  in  a  constitutional  way  by  Congress.  Mili 
tary  governors  had  been  appointed  as  soon  as  possible. 
There  was  no  danger  that  the  Supreme  Court  could 
decide  the  laws  unconstitutional  before  Congress  met 
in  December,  as  that  Court  can  only  hear  appeals.  Nor 
was  there  need  to  watch  the  President,  as  he  had  been 
left  no  power  except  to  execute  the  laws.  The  people 
desire  Congress  to  adjourn,  not  because  they  are  dis 
satisfied  with  what  has  been  done,  but  rather  for  fear 
that  it  may  do  something  rash,  if  it  continues  to  sit.114 
He  urged115  that  a  corporation  could  not  be  disloyal 
and,  therefore,  the  banks,  who  alleged  that  the  money 
captured  with  Jefferson  Davis  had  been  seized  from 
them,  should  have  the  right  to  sue  for  the  money  in 
the  Court  of  Claims.  He  said116  it  would  be  a  hardship 
to  deprive  masters  of  enlisted  slaves  of  the  payment 
previously  provided  by  law.  Maryland  had  paid  $100 
to  each  master  pari  passu  with  the  national  govern- 

113  On  March  23. 

114  On  March  28,  he  stated  that  he  agreed  with  the  proposition  that  Con 
gress,  by  agreement  of  both  houses,  can  adjourn  from  month  to  month,  or  to 
any  specified  time.    He  held  that  there  was  no  ground  for  believing  that  the 
minority  can  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  when  the  houses  have  voted  to  adjourn 
to  July  i  and  then,  unless  otherwise  ordered  by  Congress,  from  July  2  to 
December. 

116  On  March  16. 
116  On  January  7. 


178  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

ment.117  He  voted  against  suspending  the  payment  to 
the  masters  for  slaves  who  had  volunteered  in  the  army, 
as  it  would  violate  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation,  and 
on  March  23  he  protested  against  moneys  for  colored 
troops  being  paid  General  O.  O.  Howard  unless  he 
were  bonded. 

When  the  bill  to  regulate  the  suffrage  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  was  under  discussion,  Johnson  spoke  in 
opposition  to  woman  suffrage,  which  did  not  then  exist 
elsewhere  in  the  United  States. 

Ladies  have  duties  peculiar  to  themselves  which  can  not 
be  discharged  by  anybody  else;. the  nurture  and  education  of 
their  children,  the  demands  upon  them  consequent  upon  the 
preservation  of  their  households. 

If  the  question  of  voting  were  submitted  to  "the 
ladies,  in  the  true  acceptation  of  the  term,"  it  would  be 
rejected.  They  would  feel  it  dishonor  to  "  undergo, 
what  is  often  the  degradation  of  seeking  to  vote,  particu 
larly  in  the  cities,  getting  up  to  the  polls,  crowded  out 
and  crowded  in."  Men  vote  because  they  serve  in  the 
militia  and  perform  similar  duties,  which  women  are 
not  expected  to  do.  Woman  is  protected  by  man  and 
needs  not  to  protect  herself. 

Nature  has  not  made  her  for  the  rough  and  tumble,  so  to 
speak,  of  life.  She  is  intended  to  be  delicate.  She  is  intended 
to  soften  the  asperities  and  roughness  of  the  male  sex.  She 
is  intended  to  comfort  him  in  the  days  of  his  trial,  not  to  par 
ticipate  herself  actively  in  the  contest,  either  in  the  forum, 
in  the  council  chamber,  or  on  the  battlefield. 

The  strong  minded  women  are  exceptional.  The  pres 
ence  of  ladies  at  the  polls  will  not  turn  a  blackguard  into 

'"On  March  21. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  179 

a  gentleman.  In  Baltimore  elections  are  as  orderly  as 
elsewhere,  but, 

in  times  of  high  party  excitement,  it  is  impossible  to  preserve 
that  order  which  would  be  sufficient  to  protect  a  delicate  female 
from  insult,  and  no  lady  would  venture  to  run  the  hazard  of 
being  subject  to  the  insults  that  she  would  be  almost  certain 
to  receive. 

The  bill,  as  passed,  gave  no  suffrage  to  women,  but 
gave  it  to  negroes.  Andrew  Johnson  promptly  vetoed 
the  bill  and  Reverdy  Johnson  was  one  of  the  minority 
of  ten  who  voted  to  sustain  the  veto,118  while  twenty- 
nine  voted  to  override  it.  He  said  that  Congress  had 
a  right  to  pass  the  act,  for  the  only  limits  to  its  powers 
over  the  District  were  found  in  the  guarantees  to  indi 
viduals.  For  many  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution,  it  was  thought  that,  having  accepted  the  terri 
tory  from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  Congress  should  not 
interfere  with  slavery  in  the  District.  He  had  not 
accepted  this  view,  though  Calhoun  and  Clay  had  done 
so  and  even  Adams  had  said  it  would  be  wrong  to  abolish 
slavery  there  without  a  popular  vote.  The  people  of 
the  District  who  protest  against  this  act,  have  a  right 
to  be  respectfully  heard  and  their  views  should  be  fol 
lowed,  if  they  are  well  founded.  Congress  had  not  yet 
given  the  freedmen  in  the  States  the  suffrage  under  the 
Constitution.  Morrill  said  that  in  1789  negroes  voted 
in  every  State  but  South  Carolina  and  Johnson  retorted 
"Well,  the  States  regulated  suffrage."  The  negro  had 
not  been  given  the  right  to  vote  in  Ohio  or  Maryland, 
and  should  not  be  given  it  in  the  District,  where  many 
of  them  are  living  "in  squalid  misery,  in  a  sense  paupers." 
He  referred  to  the  Chinese  and  maintained  that  there 
would  be  distinction  on  account  of  color,  so  long  as  the 

118  On  January  7. 


ISO  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

races  were  not  blended.  He  had  no  fear  of  the  founda 
tions  of  the  country  being  shaken,  by  executive  or  by 
legislative  usurpations.  If  these  come,  they  will  be  re 
dressed  by  the  "  patriotism  and  the  power  of  the  Ameri 
can  people."119 

Maryland  matters  demanded  much  of  Johnson's  atten 
tion  at  this  Session.  On  January  3,  Sumner  complained 
of  the  sale  of  negroes'  services  for  six  months,  for  a  year, 
and  for  two  years,  as  had  been  done  in  punishment  of 
crime  at  Annapolis  during  December  and  asked  that  the 
judiciary  committee  consider  the  case.  Johnson  replied 
that  slavery  may  be  a  punishment  for  crime  according 
to  the  constitution,  and  that  it  is  better  to  wait,  as  the 
judge,  who  sentenced  the  negroes,  had  already  been  ar 
rested  and  the  case  is  in  the  United  States  courts. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  State  in  the  Union,  in  which  there  is  a 
more  fixed  determination  that  Slavery,  ....  on  any 
account  except  for  crime,  shall  not  exist,  than  there  is  in 
Maryland. 

Creswell,  the  radical  colleague  of  Johnson,  said  that 
the  Maryland  law  only  referred  to  blacks  and  that  the 
only  service  exacted  from  criminals  should  be  that  rend 
ered  the  State,  which  change  may  be  effected  by  the 
civil  rights  bill.  Maryland's  attachment  to  freedom 
was  doubted  by  Creswell,  who  advised  the  Senate  to 
watch  the  State  legislature,  in  any  repeal  of  the  slave  code. 

119  As  to  minor  matters  concerning  the  District,  on  January  19,  he  advcv 
cated  postponing  action  on  the  charter  of  the  Baltimore  and  Potomac  Rail 
road,  until  Maryland  had  acted,  for  that  State,  having  a  deep  interest  in  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  may  refuse  to  permit  the  new  road  to  pass  through 
its  territory.  On  February  9,  he  objected  to  disturbing  the  dead,  b"y  removing 
bodies  from  the  Foundry  Methodist  graveyard,  but  finally  yielded;  he  spoke 
in  favor  of  the  newsboys'  home,  and  opposed  limiting  the  National  Capitol 
Insurance  Company  by  its  charter  to  do  business  in  the  District  alone,  as  it 
should  be  empowered  to  enter  such  States  as  may  permit  it. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  l8l 

Later  in  the  session,  the  Maryland  legislature  elected 
as  Creswell's  successor,  Philip  Francis  Thomas,  who  had 
been  Commissioner  of  Patents  and  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  Buchanan's  administration.  He  had 
lived  in  retirement  during  the  war  and  had  made  an 
intemperate  speech  against  the  acts  of  the  majority  of 
Congress,  when  notified  of  his  election.  On  March  1 6, 
Johnson  presented  Thomas's  credentials,  opposed  a 
reference  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  defended 
Thomas's  loyalty  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  from  a 
charge  that  he  had  transferred  money  to  the  sub-treasury 
at  New  Orleans.120  Howard  complained  of  Thomas's 
remarks  made  after  his  election  and  Johnson  replied 
that,  like  himself,  Thomas  may  have  thought  that  the 
government  of  Maryland,  as  recently  administered  by 
the  suffrages  of  not  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  population, 
was  not  republican.  Nye  of  Nevada  took  the  position 
that  the  election,  by  which  the  legislature  of  Maryland 
was  chosen,  was  fraudulent,  in  that  the  law  prohibiting 
rebels  from  voting  had  been  disregarded  and  charged 
that  Thomas  resigned  from  Buchanan's  cabinet,  because 
he  did  not  believe  in  reenforcing  Sumter.  Investigation 
should  be  made  before  Thomas  is  sworn.  Johnson  re 
marked  that,  if  rumors  are  taken,  we  may  all  be  in 
trouble.  Sumner  and  I  differ,  yet  neither  is  disloyal. 
Investigation  may  follow  Thomas's  taking  the  oath. 
The  Senate  has  no  jurisdiction  over  the  legislature  of 
Maryland.  Nye  persisted.  The  Senate  should  decide 
for  itself  on  the  election  of  its  members  and  good  loyal 
men  of  Maryland  wish  to  appear  before  the  committee 
to  show  that  Thomas  was  disloyal.  If  the  Maryland 
legislature  is  fraudulent,  we  have  the  right  to  inquire 

120  He  had  already  transferred  money  from  Arkansas  to  New  Orleans,  which 
was  all  expended  before  the  secession  of  Louisiana. 


I 82  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

into  it.  Trumbull  supported  Johnson  and  said  that, 
after  the  admission  of  Thomas,  the  Senate  could  investi 
gate  the  legislature  of  Maryland.  Not  everyone  disagree 
ing  with  us  is  an  enemy  of  the  country.  The  debate 
became  general.  Fessenden  recalled  that,  in  only  two 
cases,  had  reference  of  credentials  been  made  to  a  com 
mittee121  and,  in  both  cases,  there  were  affidavits  against 
those  bearing  credentials,  when  they  presented  them.1" 
Here,  however,  there  was  only  rumor  and  no  remon 
strance  had  been  made.  On  such  rumors,  all  Democrats 
might  be  kept  out  and  this  is  a  more  extreme  case  than 
that  of  Stockton,  for  there  the  question  was,  had  the 
legislature  elected  him  rightfully  and  here  the  question 
is,  was  the  Maryland  Assembly  rightfully  elected.  When 
Sherman  said  he  favored  reference  of  the  case  to  the 
committee,  since  Thomas's  resignation  of  the  Treasury 
Department  had  been  possibly  on  the  same  ground  as 
Floyd's,  Johnson  at  once  replied : 

If  I  had  been  in  his  situation,  I  would  have  concurred  with 
the  majority  of  that  cabinet,  because  in  the  then  condition 
of  things,  I  would  not  have  enquired  whether  there  was  a  law 
or  not.  I  would  have  enforced  the  collection  of  the  duties. 

As  to  the  speech  reported  recently  to  have  been  made 
by  Thomas,  it  was  printed  in  the  American,  a  "most 
violent  partisan  paper,"  which  had  often  misrepresented 
Johnson,  though  he  took  no  notice  of  it.  Thomas  had 
authorized  him  to  say  that  "he  has  not  the  slightest 
recollection  of  saying  a  word,  which  would  have  justified 
such  a  statement"  as  made  in  the  American.  What  he 

121  Stark  of  Oregon  during  the  war  and  since  that  time  Patterson  of  Tennes 
see,  who  had  taken  an  oath  of  office  under  the  Confederacy. 

122  In  both  cases  the  reference  was  made  so  as  to  avoid  the  need  of  two-thirds 
vote  to  expel. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  183 

said  was  what  had  been  said  in  Congress.123  The  fact 
that  Thomas  had  not  volunteered  during  the  war  was 
no  proof  of  disloyalty. 

Stewart  of  Nevada  thought  reference  should  be  made 
to  a  committee,  since  men  will  be  coming  from  the  States 
lately  in  rebellion  and  it  will  be  a  dangerous  precedent 
not  to  refer  credentials.  When  Johnson  asked  if  there 
was  not  a  difference  between  Maryland  and  the  seceding 
States,  Stewart  replied  that  there  was  none  between  a 
disloyal  individual  in  Maryland  and  one  in  South  Caro 
lina,  except  that  the  former  was  more  guilty,  as  the 
whole  people  were  not  disloyal  and  there  was  Federal 
power  to  protect  him.  Johnson  asserted  that  the  pre 
sumption  was  that  a  man  presenting  himself  as  a  Sena 
tor  from  Maryland  was  as  loyal  as  one  from  Nevada. 
Stewart  replied  that  this  might  be  true  as  a  presump 
tion,  but,  "when  there  is  a  suggestion  that  there  may 
be  guilt,  it  is  then  incumbent  on  the  body  to  investi 
gate  it."  The  only  question  was  the  order  of  procedure, 
for  it  was  admitted  that  an  investigation  will  be  proper 
at  some  time.  "If  we  refuse  to  examine  this  case  at 
this  stage,  when  the  suggestion  is  made  hereafter  for  a 
reference,  it  will  be  regarded  as  a  condemnation." 
Conness  remarked  that  he  was  surprised  at  Johnson's 
position,  for  Thomas's  resignation  of  the  Treasury  in 
1 86 1,  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  agree  with  the 
majority  of  the  cabinet  as  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued 
towards  South  Carolina,  showed  that  there  must  be 
"a  close  investigation."  He  would  never  vote  to  admit 
to  the  Senate,  a  man,  "either  so  weak  or  so  vicious  in 

123  Johnson  cited  Andrew  Jackson's  calling  two  Congressmen  traitors,  with 
out  any  one  proposing  to  impeach  him  for  it;  Webster's  statement  that  he 
would  not  appropriate  three  mills  to  Andrew  Jackson  for  war,  if  the  enemy  was 
thundering  at  the  gates  of  the  Capitol  (which  J.  Q.  Adams  said  was  treason) ; 
and  the  bitter  denunciation  of  Andrew  Johnson  in  either  house. 


184  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

1 86 1,  as  not  to  be  able  to  find  law  enough  to  defend  the 
honor  and  existence  of  this  country"  and  who  even 
left  the  cabinet  for  that  cause.  Sherman  added  that 
Thomas's  singular  letter  of  resignation  stated  that  seces 
sion  was  a  constitutional  act  and  that  South  Carolina 
had  so  withdrawn  from  the  Union  that  there  was  no 
authority  to  enforce  the  law  of  the  United  States  in  that 
State.  Thomas  had  not  aided  in  the  suppression  of  the 
rebellion  and  should  not  be  allowed  in  the  Senate,  if  he 
had  really  said  in  his  recent  speech  that  in  the  Senate 
he  "  would  face  these  men,  who  now  and  always  were 
traitors  to  the  Union."124  Saulsbury  of  Delaware  said 
that  the  Republicans  call  opponents  names  and  the 
Gazette  had  a  different  report  of  the  speech.  "  I  know, 
living  not  far  from  Thomas,  that  he  lived  a  quiet,  peace 
ful  life  during  the  war"  and,  though  a  military  force 
seized  Judge  Carmichael  for  disloyalty,  no  charge  was 
made  against  Thomas.  Johnson  attempted  to  show 
that  Sherman  and  Conness  misunderstood  Thomas's 
letter.  Davis  of  Kentucky  advocated  immediate  admis 
sion  of  Thomas  and  Howard  closed  the  debate  by  urging 
reference  of  the  credentials  and  stating  his  belief  in 
Thomas's  disloyalty.125 

On  March  29,  Johnson  gave  up  the  fight  and  moved, 
at  Thomas's  request,  that  the  credentials  be  referred 
to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  which  was  promptly  done.1*1 

Maryland's  political  condition  was  brought  before  the 

124  Morton  agreed  to  this. 

125  On  March  20,  Johnson  wrote  to  Governor  Bradford  that  he  would  try 
to  secure  his   confirmation  in  office,   but  was  doubtful  of  success  and  very 
doubtful  of  Thomas's  admission.    On  the  2ist,  he  wrote  Bradford  again  that, 
in  spite  of  CreswelPs  telegram  that  Bradford's  rejection  was  absolutely  neces 
sary,  he  secured  confirmation  by  a  vote  of  22  to  16. 

125  On  the  same  day,  Johnson  opposed  the  publication  of  the  laws  in  the 
Southern  papers. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  185 

Senate  on  March  28,  by  the  receipt  of  resolves  from  the 
Maryland  Republican  Convention,127  protesting  against 
a  scheme  for  a  State  Constitutional  Convention  and  by 
Francis  Thomas  attacking  the  Democratic  State  Admin 
istration  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Johnson  moved  reference  of  the  protest  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee  and  said  that  he  felt  that  there  should  not 
now  be  such  a  convention,  as  it  would  be  "fraught  with 
more  or  less  of  peril  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
State"  in  the  present  condition  of  the  country  and  the 
state  of  feeling  in  Maryland.  When  Sumner,  on  the 
following  day,  used  as  an  argument  for  negro  suffrage, 
the  fact  that  returned  rebels,  but  not  negroes,  could 
vote  in  Maryland,  Johnson,  prompt  as  ever  in  the  defence 
of  his  State,  said  "there  is  no  State  in  the  Union,  where 
private  rights  of  person,  and  rights  of  property,  are  more 
amply  protected.  There  is  no  judiciary  in  the  land, 
whose  duties  are  more  honestly  and  impartially  ad 
ministered."128 

He  favored  the  bankruptcy  law,  but  opposed  giving 
the  chief  justice  power  to  make  appointments  under 
it,  thinking  this  might  tend  to  make  him  a  party  man 
and  make  people  think  him  such.129  The  Supreme  Court 
had  never  lent  itself  to  partisanship  and  the  duties  of 
its  head  should  be  confined  to  high  constitutional  and 
legal  ones.130  He  learnedly  discussed131  the  effect  of 

127  Signed  by  Frederick  Schley. 

128  On  January  31,  in  the  tariff  debate,  Johnson  said  that  he  lived  in  a  State 
''which  stands  between  the  extremes"  and  quoted  from  the  message  to  the 
Assembly  of  the  first  Maryland  governor  elected  by  the  people:  "We  are  not 
given  to  the  rude  boreas  of  northern  fanaticism  or  the  hot  simoon  of  Southern 
impetuosity." 

129  On  January  19.    On  March  22,  he  reiterated  his  views  on  this  joint. 

130  Johnson  preferred  giving  the  appointive  power  to  District,  rather  tha» 
*o  Circuit  Judges. 

131  On  February  i. 


1 86  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Supreme  Court  decisions,  which  were  pertinent  to  this 
law,132  and  urged  that  while  the  law  must  be  uniform, 
it  ought  not  to  appropriate  to  the  payment  of  debts 
property  which  is  not  liable  under  existing  State  exemp 
tion  laws.  The  civil  troubles  had  swept  away133  many 
men's  property,  especially  in  the  South,  and  the  law 
should  be  liberal,  so  as  to  relieve  men  from  the  slavery 
of  debt,  whether  or  not  they  could  show  assets  equal  to 
half  their  debts  and  whether  or  not  the  insolvent  was  a 
trader,  and  the  debt  a  mercantile  one.  Corporations 
should  be  allowed  to  partake  of  the  benefits  of  the  law, 
without  forfeiture  of  their  franchises,  which  are  property 
to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  creditors.  He  opposed134 
a  provision  that  no  discharge  should  be  valid,  except 
with  the  consent  of  three-fourths  of  the  creditors,  as 
it  made  the  creditor  the  judge  rather  than  a  disinterested 
tribunal.  A  man  who  can  not  pay  his  debts  is  no 
repudiator. 

No  bankrupt  law  has  ever  been  passed,  except  because  of 
the  large  amount  of  existing  debts  which  were  depressing  the 
industry  of  the  country  and  ruining  the  debtor.  When,  there 
fore,  a  man  contracts  a  debt,  the  creditor  is  supposed  to  know 
that  there  is  in  Congress  power  to  discharge  a  debtor,  on  his 
delivering  up  the  assets. 

Consequently,  the  act  is  valid  as  well  to  prior  debts 
as  to  subsequent  ones.  He  objected  to  Sumner's  prop 
osition  to  give  a  test  oath  to  petitioners  in  bankruptcy, 
who  may  have  been  protected  by  the  grant  of  belliger 
ent  rights.  They  were  once  traitors,  but  are  now  citi 
zens  and  may  contract  debts.  The  test  oath  has  hitherto 

132  E.  g.  Sturgis  v.  Crowninshield  and  Ogden  v.  Saunders. 

133  Qn  February  4. 

134  On  February  5. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  187 

been  only  used  for  officers  and  quasi-officers.  It  is 
absurd  that  a  law  should  not  apply  to  all.  The  question 
as  to  whether  a  rebel  debtor  is  discharged  or  is  allowed 
to  do  with  his  property  as  he  will,  should  not  depend 
on  a  loyal  creditor  applying  for  the  benefit  of  the  law.135 
Finally,  on  March  29,  he  voted  with  the  majority  against 
the  bankruptcy  bill. 

When  the  tariff  bill  came  up  for  discussion,136  Johnson 
said: 

I  have,  from  the  first,  been  in  favor  of  protecting  the  domestic 
industry  of  the  country  by  Congress,  having  no  doubt  either 
as  to  the  power  or  as  to  the  expediency  of  doing  so. 

Since  1828,  Congress  had  several  times  passed  such 
laws  and  the  prosperous  condition  of  the  country,  which 
enabled  it  to  win  in  the  war,  was  largely  due  to  the  exist 
ence  of  the  protective  system.  Since  States  can 
not  protect  industries  by  laying  duties,  no  one  can 
do  so,  unless  the  United  States  lay  them.  Protection 
may  be  carried  to  a  ruinous  extent,  of  course,  and  may 
injudiciously  reduce  revenue  from  imports,  so  that  the 
country  will  not  have  money  to  pay  its  debt.  The 
tariff  should  protect  the  wool  grower  as  well  as  the  manu 
facturer,137  and  the  Maryland  coal  from  the  Nova  Scotia 
product,  so  as  to  give  the  former  the  Massachusetts 
market,138  which  the  Canadian  reciprocity  treaty  took 

135  On  March  26,  he  objected  to  preference  given  to  creditors  and  to  the  post 
ponement  of  the  effect  of  the  law  from  June  to  January.    On  March  28,  he 
advocated  abolishing  preferences  in  bankruptcy  made  after  the  law  passed 
but  before  June  i . 

136  On  January  23. 

137  Yet  he  was  not  in  favor  of  protecting  wool  growing  and  leaving  other 
interests  unprotected.     Speech  of  March  i. 

138  On  January  25. 


1 88  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

from  it.139  The  tariff  system140  was  forced  on  New  Eng 
land  by  Southern  votes  and  though  she  protested,  she 
availed  herself  of  it  and  grew  rich  thereunder.  He  also 
was  interested  in  having  efficient  merchant  shipping  and 
believed  that  shipbuilding  should  be  fostered,  since  the 
"arm  of  the  country  in  case  of  danger  is  strengthened 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  commer 
cial  marine."141  When  the  internal  revenue  act  was 
under  discussion,142  he  opposed  a  tax  on  cotton,  as  bad 
policy,  liable  to  injure  an  industry  much  greater  than  the 
wool  one. 

He  maintained  that  a  "violation  of  a  national  agree 
ment,  under  any  circumstances,  is  full  of  peril,  and  it 
is  especially  mischievous  when  that  violation  relates  to 
some  financial  operation  of  the  government."  There 
fore,143  he  favored  the  taking  up  of  the  compound  interest 
notes  and  the  issue  of  three  per  cent  notes  in  their  place, 
for  the  government  had  made  a  contract  with  the  holders 
of  legal  tender  notes,  not  to  issue  over  $400,000,000  of 
them.  The  original  issue  of  legal  tender  notes  was  open 
to  great  objection,  but  they  can  not  be  gotten  out  of  the 
way  at  once. 

On  miscellaneous  topics,  we  find  Johnson  asserting 
that  a  married  woman  should  not  be  made  a  feme  sole 
at  law,144  and  advocating  the  preservation  of  the  Choctaw 

139  Creswell  also  defended  the  tariff  on  coal,  but  Fessenden  replied  that  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  and  the  Chespeake  and  Ohio  freights  were  the  enemies 
of  Maryland  coal. 

140  On  January  29  and  30. 

141  On  March  23,  he  opposed  the  bill  permitting  the  sale  of  ships  to  belliger 
ents,  saying  that  the  proposed  law  might  complicate  matters  with  England  and 
would  repeal  the  excellent  neutrality  laws  of  1798. 

142  On  March  i. 

143  On  February  27. 

144  On  February  9. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  189 

and  Chickasaw  funds  that  their  schools  be  not  closed.146 
He  had  "always  voted146  against  intrusting  the  custody  of 
the  Indians  to  the  army."147  He  advocated  larger  sal 
aries  for  those  very  important  officers,  the  judges  of  the 
Court  of  Claims.148  Congressmen  have  other  sources 
of  income,  but  judges  have  not.  Heads  of  bureaus  are 
mere  accounting  officers,  do  not  require  the  same  kind 
of  ability,  and  should  receive  less  salary.  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  also  receive  too  small  salaries.  Taney 
"lived  in  the  most  economical  way  possible"  and  could 
not  entertain  a  single  person  at  his  table,  yet  "left  the 
world  with  a  family  almost  wholly  dependent  upon 
others."  When  it  was  proposed  to  vote  indemnity 
to  military  officers,149  Johnson  expressed  doubts  as  to 
whether  an  indemnity  act  would  be  sanctioned  by  the 
court  and  opposed  prohibiting  courts  from  entertaining 
jurisdiction  in  the  case.  He  felt  that  we  should  go  to 
the  verge  of  the  Constitution  in  protecting  officers,  in 
all  acts  they  honestly  believed  necessary  to  protect  the 
government  from  the  effort  to  destroy  it,  but  this  bill 
went  too  far  and  prevented  an  injured  citizen  from  suing, 
in  a  civil  tribunal,  any  person  who  acted  under  presi 
dential  authority.  Congress  assumed  to  say  that  all 
the  President's  acts  are  legal  and  are  legally  performed 
and,  even  if  Congress  is  without  power  to  pass  such  a 
law  constitutionally,  that  the  Court  shall  not  examine  it. 
Though  he  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  Court 

145  On  March  20. 

"6  On  March  9. 

147  In  a  speech  on  the  printing  of  the  Congressional  Globe,  on  February  8, 
which  he  thought  ought  to  be  printed  by  the  government  were  it  not  for  the 
existing  contract.  Johnson  said  "the  true  mode  of  interpreting  a  law  is  to 
interpret  it  by  itself  without  any  reference  to  facts  aliunde." 

143  On  February  8. 

149  On  March  2. 


190  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

of  Claims,  yet  he  felt  that  the  Senate  was  competent  to 
pass  on  legal  questions,  such  as  grants  of  public  lands, 
and  opposed  reference  of  such  a  claim150  to  the  Court. 
He  favored  appropriations  for  such  internal  improve 
ments  as  were  in  the  river  and  harbor  bill,  believing151 
that  it  was  "important  to  the  whole  country  that  the 
navigation  of  the  western  waters  should  be  as  good 
as  it  can  be  made."152 

On  May  8,  1867,  he  argued,  unsuccessfully,  for  the 
defendant  in  the  case  of  Virginia  v.  West  Virginia  in 
the  Supreme  Court.153  He  first  considered  whether  the 
case  entitled  the  complainant  to  relief.  Berkeley  and 
Jefferson  Counties,  in  1863,  voted  in  favor  of  annexation 
to  West  Virginia  and  Virginia  now  denied  the  validity 
of  the  election.  Johnson  argued  that  the  certificate  of 
the  loyal  governor  of  Virginia  in  1863  as  to  the  election 
was  conclusive,  that  the  absence  of  voters  in  the  Con 
federate  army  could  not  invalidate  the  election,  that 
Congress  approved  West  Virginia's  constitution  which 
provided  that  additional  territory  might  be  admitted 
into  the  State  with  the  consent  of  the  legislature,  and 
that  Congressional  approval  to  the  annexation  was 
given  in  1866,  within  a  reasonable  period  of  the  election. 

He  then  considered  whether  Virginia  was  a  State 
competent  to  act.  "The  Union  consists  of  States,  equal 
in  all  respects  in  dignity,  and  possessing  the  same  rights. 
The  most  important  of  these  rights,  the  one  upon  which 
all  its  other  rights  and  interests  depend  for  protection 
and  enjoyment,  is  the  right  of  representation  in  Con 
gress."  If  Virginia  does  not  possess  this,  she  is  not  a 

160  That  of  Milwaukee  and  Rock  River  Canal  on  January  3. 

161  On  February  25. 

163  Vide  remarks  on  Clinton  Bridge  on  February  21. 

M  His  argument  was  printed  in  pamphlet  form  p.  18.  Stanton  and  Lee  were 
with  him.  Curtis  and  Hunter  opposed  him. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON 

State,  within  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution.  "My 
own  opinion  has  been"  that  the  Civil  War,  "in  the  sense 
of  the  Constitution,"  was  an  "insurrection  and  not  a 
war,  that  the  power  conferred  upon  Congress  to  declare 
war  referred  exclusively  to  an  external  conflict."  The 
Constitution  could  not  have  "intended  to  authorize 
Congress,  through  the  war,  or  any  other  power,  to  con 
quer  a  State,  annihilate  and  govern  it  as  a  territory  and 
its  citizens  as  enemies.  The  framers  of  the  Constitution 
looked  to  the  happening  of  two  events :  one  a  war  with 
a  foreign  nation,  the  other  an  insurrection  among  the 
people  of  one  or  more  States.  For  the  first,  they  in 
vested  Congress  with  the  war  power;  for  the  second, 
with  the  power  to  call  out  the  militia.  The  power  to 
suppress  insurrection  was  given  to  preserve  and  not  to 
destroy  the  States."  Congress,  however,  acted  on  the 
inference  that,  when  started,  the  conflict  is  a  war  and 
the  parties  are  enemies,  though  they  must  again  become 
traitors  and  no  longer  enemies,  at  the  end  of  the  con 
flict.  The  Supreme  Court's  decision  as  to  the  Constitu 
tional  character  of  the  struggle  is  not  binding  upon 
Congress,  of  which  each  House  "has  the  exclusive  power 
to  decide  that  a  State  is  entitled  to  representation,  or 
to  state  it  more  correctly,  whether  a  community  is  a 
State  for  that  purpose,  within  the  meaning  of  the  Con 
stitution."  As  Congress  does  not  recognize  Virginia, 
it  is  not  a  State  and  cannot  bring  suit. 
In  an  eloquent  peroration,  Johnson  said, 

It  is  not  for  me  .  .  .  .  to  censure  or  taunt  Virginia's 
sons,  now  that  the  war  is  over,  by  unfriendly  reference  to  their 
recent  error.  I  know  well  how  sincere  and  deep  was  the  affec 
tion  they  bore  their  State.  Their  mistake  has  been  that  in 
indulging  it  they  forgot  what  they  owed  to  the  government 
of  the  Union.  In  the  blindness  of  their  State  love,  they  did 


I 92  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

not  see  it  was  their  duty  also  to  love  the  Union 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  powers  delegated  to  the 
Government  should  be  paramount  to  State  powers.  This  neces 
sity  creates  an  allegiance,  to  which  State  allegiance  must  be 
subordinate.  The  South  forgot  or  denied  this.  They  acted 
upon  a  different  theory.  They  maintained  that  the  allegiance 
of  the  citizen  was  first  due  to  his  State  and  the  late  war  was 
the  consequence.  The  result  of  that  war,  I  hope,  has  convinced 
them  that  their  theory  is  unsound,  or  at  least  that  it  can  never 
be  successfully  vindicated  in  practise.  Secession,  therefore,  as 
a  State  right  is  at  an  end.164 

At  the  extra  session  of  Congress,  in  July,  Johnson 
was  consistent  with  his  previous  position.  He  success 
fully  moved  that  no  person  who  gave  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  rebellion  after  holding  office  should  vote,155  but 
that  men  who  did  not  actually  enter  into  the  rebellion 
should  not  be  excluded,  being  impelled  by  a  letter  from 
General  Sickles  who,  wrote  that  there  were  many  now  loyal 
in  the  Carolinas,  who  saw  the  error  of  their  ways  and  were 
anxious  to  help  "reestablish  the  Union."  With  earnest 
opposition  he  met  the  proposition  that  there  be  any 
increase  in  the  number  of  persons  to  be  disfranchised, 
or  that  persons  who  acted  in  any  official  capacity  in 
the  rebel  States  be  excluded  from  voting.  Without  these 
men,  there  would  have  been  anarchy  and  the  judges, 
at  least,  stood  in  the  situation  in  which  Lord  Hale  stood, 
when  appointed  Judge  by  Cromwell.  He  defended  the 
Attorney-General156  for  expounding  the  Reconstruc 
tion  Act  to  the  District  of  Columbia  Commissioners, 
at  the  direction  of  the  President.  He  did  not  believe 
that  the  Attorney-General  wrote  the  veto  message  and 

154  On  July  1 1 ,  he  referred  in  a  speech  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  to  the 
overruling  of  this  demurrer. 
166  July  10. 
166 On  July  ii. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  193 

took  the  opportunity  to  say  that  the  law  has  put  the 
civil  under  the  military  authority,  and  that  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  cases  such  as  those  of  Texas  and  Virginia, 
had  entertained  writs  of  error  and  even  heard  cases  in 
original  jurisdiction,  concerning  the  seceding  States. 

In  a  later  speech,157  he  states  that  he  did  not  regret 
voting  for  the  original  reconstruction  acts  even  after 
the  President's  veto,  but  that  no  additional  law  is  neces 
sary.  He  is  willing,  however,  to  vote  for  a  new  bill, 
lest  a  still  worse  one  come  later.  "It  is  high  time  that 
the  Union  should  be  restored,  as  it  was  before  the  at 
tempt  at  its  disruption,"  and  should  be  again,  "what  it 
was,  when  it  was  originally  established,  a  union  of  hearts, 
as  well  as  a  union  of  men."  It  is  a  "reproach  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  Government"  that  there  are  ten  States 
still  out  of  Congress.158 

Consistent  to  his  theory,  he159  held  the  President  wrong 
and  his  message  unnecessarily  harmful  to  our  credit  in 
saying  that  we  are  responsible  for  the  debts  of  the 
Southern  States.  Johnson  instanced  our  relation  with 
Spain,  when  Napoleon  controlled  it.  When  we  recon 
struct  the  States,  their  debts  revive.  They  never  had 
right  to  leave  the  Union  and  so  their  rebel  debts  were 
void.  If  we  conquer  the  States,  we  have  the  right  to 
pay  for  their  government  while  under  federal  control, 
by  taxing  them.  The  States  are  for  a  time  out  of  the 
Union,  but  Johnson  rejoiced  to  hear  Sumner  say  that 
a  State  can  never  die,  as  that  statement  agreed  with 
Johnson's  theory. 

167  On  July  13. 

188  He  objected  to  voting  money  for  reconstruction  expenses  without  the 
recommendation  of  the  President,  or  Secretary  of  War.  On  July  18,  he  stated 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  censurable,  for  not  examining  a  man  for 
admission  to  the  Naval  Academy. 

169  On  July  15. 


194  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

In  an  eloquent  speech,  on  July  12,  he  defended  Maxi 
milian's  course  in  Mexico,  in  that  he  treated  guerrillas 
as  criminals  as  we  did  and  in  that  he  died  rather  than 
flee,  ''because  he  loved  honor  more  than  life."  There 
is  no  civil  liberty  in  Mexico  and  we  must  not  vindicate 
his  executioners.  Six  days  later,  he  protested  against 
the  idea  that  the  United  States  are  unable  to  keep  their 
faith  pledged  with  the  Indians.  White  men  on  the 
frontier  had  treated  Indians  wrongfully  without  the 
interference  of  the  government,  which  can  and  should 
enforce  obedience  there,  as  in  the  South.  A  place  must 
be  found  for  the  harmless  Indians  within  the  broad 
limits  of  the  United  States.160 

It  was  at  this  Session,  that  Sumner,  who  had  experi 
enced  many  a  conflict  with  Johnson,  paid  him  the  high 
compliment  of  saying  that  "we  all  know"  Johnson's 
"eminence  at  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  has 
no  superior." 

In  October,  Johnson  published  a  tract161  entitled  "The 
Dangerous  Condition  of  the  Country,  the  causes  which 
have  led  to  it  and  the  duty  of  the  people,  by  a  Mary- 
lander."  He  felt  that  the  country  was  in  peril,  for  its 
very  existence  depends  upon  the  equality  of  States,  yet 
that  equality  is  at  an  end,  for  ten  States  are  under 
military  rule.  The  legislative  department  has  brought 
the  country  into  this  predicament  and  has  lost  the 
potential  wealth  of  these  States  to  the  Nation.  The 

160  On  July  19,  he  defended  the  court  of  claims  and  protested  against  taking 
cases  from  it.  In  April,  1867,  John  Bigelow  was  in  Washington  and  called 
upon  Seward,  who  was  anxious  over  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  for  the  annex 
ation  of  Alaska.  Seward  told  Bigelow  that  Sumner  had  said  that  consideration 
of  the  treaty  might  have  to  be  deferred  because  Reverdy  Johnson  opposed  it, 
but  that  Johnson,  "who  is  very  untruthful,"  charged  Sumner  with  being  the 
cause  of  the  delay. 

*«  Pp.  24. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  1 95 

war,  "which  grew  out  of  the  insurrectionary  attempts 
of  the  people  of  the  South,"  had  been  over  more  than 
two  years  previously.  Congress  voted  in  July,  1861, 
that  its  sole  object  was  to  "  defend  and  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  to  preserve  the  Union 
with  all  the  dignity,  equality  and  rights  of  the  several 
States  unimpaired."  President  Johnson  tried  to  carry 
out  this  resolution.  It  is  a  glaring  absurdity  to  construe 
the  Congressional  power  to  preserve  the  States  into  one 
to  destroy  them,  yet  the  war  is  over  and  the  Union 
continues  suspended.  The  distinction  between  a  domes 
tic  insurrection  and  a  foreign  war  is  dwelt  upon.  The 
insurrection  became  so  formidable  that,  on  grounds  of 
humanity  and  to  give  the  government  the  means  to 
assist  in  its  suppression,  belligerent  rights  were  given 
the  insurgents.  The  Prize  Cases  did  not  mean  that 
the  South  was  a  conquered  province,  but  the  perpetual 
relation  of  the  States  was  only  suspended  by  the  war, 
although  Congress  says  the  Southern  States  are  subject 
to  its  unlimited  power.  A  Government  can  not  make 
conquest  of  its  own  territory  and  Stevens  is  wrong  in 
finding  such  power  outside  of  the  Constitution,  as  Con 
gress  possesses  no  power  except  those  delegated  thereby. 
Sumner's  suffrage  bill  is  not  rightly  under  the  guarantee 
clause,  and  suffrage  should  be  as  much  a  State  matter 
as  education,  or  the  control  of  corporations.  Congress 
already  claims  the  right  to  charter  companies  to  con 
struct  railroads  in  the  States  without  their  consent. 
There  is  no  danger  from  the  executive,  but  there  is 
from  Congress,  whose  radicalism  tends  to  disorganize 
the  country,  make  it  less  easy  to  pay  the  debt,  and  keep 
alive  animosity.  There  is  especial  danger  in  the  threat 
to  suspend  President  Johnson,  "which  nothing  but  his 


IQ6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

patriotic  forbearance  can  prevent  from  terminating  in 
another  civil  war." 

A  month  later,  he  published  a  second  pamphlet.162 
In  this  publication,  he  deals  more  particularly  with 
Maryland  affairs.  After  discussing  the  meaning  of  the 
clause  of  guarantee,  he  turns  to  the  charges  that  the 
State's  government  is  not  republican,  because  of  the 
limitation  of  the  suffrage  and  the  unequal  representa 
tion  of  the  counties.  A  Congressional  Committee,  sit 
ting  in  secret  and  permitting  no  representative  of  Mary 
land  to  be  present,  had  inquired  into  the  question  and 
heard  witnesses  from  the  members  of  "that  very  small 
party  in  the  State  known  as  Radical."  The  Constitu 
tion  of  1864,  however,  was  "declared  by  competent 
authority  to  have  been  legally  adopted"  and  excluded 
white  men  from  the  franchise  "by  restrictions,  in  their 
nature  unjust  and  punitive,"  yet  there  was  no  protest 
at  Washington.  A  large  majority  of  all  the  males  in 
Maryland,  white  and  black,  support  the  government 
and  the  Democratic  candidate  for  governor  had  been 
elected  by  a  majority  twice  as  great  as  that  given  the 
Constitution  of  i867.163  Congress  had  no  right  to  make 
a  Constitution  for  such  a  State  as  Maryland.  The 
Fourteenth  Amendment,  whose  object  was  to  define 
citizenship,  gives  no  power  to  regulate  the  elective  fran 
chise.  The  President  is  threatened  with  impeachment, 
yet  "any  alleged  violation  of  supposed  duty,  not  made 
a  crime  by  Statute,  any  alleged  violation  of  party  fealty, 
any  use  of  his  official  patronage  which  politicians  may 
find  fault  with,  or  which  may  have  proved  injurious 
to  the  public  interest,  are  not  causes  of  impeachment." 
One  must  remember  that,  during  an  impeachment  trial, 

162 Also  anonymous  "A  Further  Consideration,  etc.,  pp.  23. 
163  44,  742  votes  for  Bowie,  24,  124  for  the  Constitution. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 97 

the  President  holds  office.  The  dominant  party  does 
not  observe  the  Constitution.  The  address  of  the  white 
citizens  of  South  Carolina,  protesting  against  reconstruc 
tion,  causes  "sympathy  and  pain.  They  should  have 
peace  and,  throughout  the  land,  the  white  men  should 
determine  to  have  the  Constitution  respected  and  to 
continue  the  governments,  State  and  National,  exclu 
sively  in  the  hands  of  men  of  their  own  race." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  IMPEACHMENT  SESSION  (1867-68). 

In  this  session  and  in  the  trial  of  President  Johnson, 
Reverdy  Johnson  took  a  most  important  part.  He  was 
one  of  the  committee  on  the  rules  of  the  Court.  To 
him  largely  was  it  due  that  the  President  was  acquitted. 
He  opposed  in  vain  Wade's  sitting  in  the  Court.  He 
filed  an  opinion,  stating  that  the  President  was  not 
guilty,  which  opinion  was  forceful  and  conclusive.  He 
influenced  several  senators,  who  had  been  uncertain 
what  course  to  pursue,  and  induced  them  to  rely  on 
President  Johnson's  integrity  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  reconstruction  acts.  During  the  early  days  of  the 
Session,  we  find  him1  spending  the  evening  with  General 
Sherman,  devising  some  adjustment  of  the  complica 
tions  in  the  War  Department,  as  a  result  of  which  con 
ference  both  he  and  Sherman  urged  the  President  to 
appoint  General  Jacob  D.  Cox  as  Secretary.2  As  the 
questions  at  issue  were  grave  and  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  was  an  able  one,  he  wished 
it  printed  with  the  President's  message.3 

On  February  24,  the  House  of  Representatives  voted 
to  impeach  the  President  for  "high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors"  and,  on  March  5,  eleven  articles  of  impeach 
ment  were  presented  by  the  House  to  the  Senate.  That 
body  was  ready  to  receive  them.  Johnson  had  been 
appointed  on  February  25  as  one  of  a  committee  of 
seven,4  to  which  were  referred  the  resolutions  of  the 

1  On  January  n.  De  Witt's  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  322. 
z  Welles  Diary  III,  260-261. 
8  On  January  28. 

4  Howard,  Trumbull,  Conkling,  Edmunds,  Morton,  and  Pomeroy  were  the 
others. 

198 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  1 99 

House,  passed  on  the  preceding  day.  In  the  discussion 
of  the  rules  of  the  Court5  Johnson  took  active  part. 
He  thought  the  Southern  States  should  be  restored, 
but  had  bowed  to  the  majority  and,  holding  that  the 
authority  to  try  impeachment  was  the  same  as  that  to 
pass  laws,  maintained  that  a  quorum  of  the  Court  was 
a  "majority  of  those  whom  the  Senate  have  decided  to 
have  been  elected,"  pointing  out  that  any  other  theory 
would  invalidate  all  acts  passed  since  April,  1865,  al 
though  the  Courts  had  sustained  them.  He  suggested 
taking  up  the  proposed  rules  seriatim,  as  was  done,  and 
insisted  that  as  a  Court,  the  Senate  should  adhere  to 
precedents.  He  opposed,  both  in  the  committee  and 
in  the  Senate,  a  rule  to  require  the  aid  of  any  officer 
military  or  civil,  to  enforce  the  Court's  decree,  as  the 
judgment  could  only  be  removal  from  office  and  ina 
bility  to  hold  office  and  no  process  was  needed  to  enforce 
such  judgment.  The  mode  of  enforcing  the  judgment 
was  a  matter  of  legislation  and  the  Senate  alone  had 
no  legislative  power.  If  the  President  were  convicted 
and  refused  to  leave  the  office,  it  would  be  for  his  suc 
cessor  to  enforce  the  removal,  but  Johnson  had  confi 
dence,  although  he  had  not  conferred  with  the  Presi 
dent,  that  he  would  obey  the  judgment  of  the  Court. 
He  also  opposed  any  limitation  of  discussion  of  any  pre 
liminary  points  which  might  be  made,  such  as  a  motion 
to  quash  the  indictment  because  it  contained  no  aver 
ment  of  criminal  intent,  as  he  was  particularly  anxious 
to  preserve  for  the  Senate  "  without  suspicion,  its  honor, 
its  justice,  its  impartiality." 

On  March  5,  the  first  day  of  the  trial,  Johnson  spoke 
in  opposition  to  Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade's  sitting  in 
the  case,  as  he  was  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate 

•On  February  29  and  March  2 


2OO  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

and  would  succeed  to  the  Presidency,  if  the  accusation 
should  be  successful.  Johnson  was  careful  to  make  his 
protest,  which  was  overruled,  on  purely  legal  ground, 
having  no  personal  objections.  He  cited  the  precedents 
brought  forward  by  Sumner  and  others  of  the  majority 
in  the  Stockton  case,6  and  insisted  that  it  was  improper 
to  place  any  man  in  a  position,  where  he  would  be  a 
judge  in  his  own  case,  no  matter  what  was  the  character 
of  his  interest.  In  sitting  on  the  impeachment,  he  was 
ever  emphatic  in  reminding  his  fellow  members  that 
they  acted  as  a  court  and  the  court  must  be  a  consti 
tutional  one.  He  also  insisted7  that,  in  a  case  where 
the  issues  are  so  "  fearful,"  order  must  be  preserved  in 
the  galleries  and,  that  there  be  no  suggestion  of  mob 
violence,  he  suggested  that  admission  be  by  ticket.8 

At  the  close  of  the  trial,  he  gave  an  opinion  which 
Cox9  called  "unanswerable  to  the  unprejudiced  reader" 
and  which  left  the  prosecution  no  constitutional  ground 
to  stand  upon.  In  this  opinion10  he  took  the  position 
that  impeachment  lay  only  for  acts  for  which  one  would 
be  liable  to  a  criminal  prosecution  and  that  it  did  not 
lie  for  speeches,  which  were  protected  under  the  amend 
ment  protecting  freedom  of  speech.  The  tenure  of  office 

6  3  Impeachment  of  Johnson,  68. 

7  In  the  Senate  on  March  10. 

8  Col.  W.  H.  Emory  testified  in  the  trial  that  he  understood  that  other 
officers  consulted  Reverdy  Johnson.    On  April  14,  Johnson  advocated  printing 
the  proceedings  of  the  trial  separately.    On  April  13,  he  brought  up  the  ques 
tion  of  Sherman's  conversation  with  the  President  as  to  his  purpose  to  remove 
Stanton  on  January  27,  1868.     i  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  236, 
517.     On  March  17,  Col.  W.  G.  Moore  wrote  (19  Am.  Hist  Rev.,  Oct.,  1913, 
p.  1 26)  "During  a  visit  to  the  Capitol  today,  Senator  Reverdy  Johnson  expressed 
anxiety"  that  the  "  President  should  do  something  to  help  himself"  and  appeared 
to  entertain  the  opinion  that  a  change  should  be  made  in  the  State  and  Treasury 
Departments. 

'Three  Decades  of  the  Federal  Legislation,  361. 
10  3  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  50  &  ff. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  2OI 

act  did  not  take  away  the  right  to  remove  Stan  ton,  as 
he  came  under  the  clause  forbidding  such  removal  for 
the  term  of  the  President  by  whom  he  was  appointed 
and  for  one  month  thereafter,  and  so  Stanton's  term 
expired  a  month  after  Lincoln's  death.  It  would  be 
most  unwise  to  force  on  a  President  a  cabinet  of  men 
in  whom  he  had  no  confidence  and  the  tenure  of  office 
bill  was  framed  with  the  intention  of  allowing  him  to 
change  them.  Precedent  established  the  right  to  remove 
without  the  Senate's  consent  and  the  act  of  1795,  allow 
ing  the  President  to  appoint  a  secretary  of  war  ad 
interim,  had  never  been  repealed,  expressly  or  by  impli 
cation.  In  any  case  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the 
construction  or  constitutionality  of  the  tenure  of  office 
act  may  honestly  be  maintained  and  there  is  no  crimi 
nality  in  holding  either  view.  If  there  were  a  constitu 
tional  power  to  remove,  the  President  is  bound  by  his 
official  oath  to  maintain  that  power. 

The  doctrine  that  the  President  is  forced  to  execute  any 
statute  that  Congress  may  pass  according  to  the  forms  of  law 
upon  subjects,  not  only  not  within  their  delegated  powers, 
but  expressly  denied  to  them,  is  to  compel  him  to  abandon  his 
office  and  submit  all  its  functions  to  the  unlimited  control  of 
Congress  and  thus  defeat  the  very  object  of  its  creation.  Such 
a  doctrine  has  no  support  in  the  Constitution  and  would  in 
the  end  be  its  destruction. 

He  must  execute  the  Constitution  and  obey  only  acts 
passed  in  pursuance  thereof,  or  break  his  "  sworn  obli 
gation  to  support  the  Constitution.  Otherwise  the  effect 
of  the  Constitution  would  depend  on  Congress,"  which 
would  have  practically  all  powers  of  government,  "a 
result  clearly  destructive  of  liberty."  The  fact  that  the 
President  wished  to  have  the  case  referred  to  the  Supreme 
Court  showed  that  his  intent  was  good.  The  resolution 


202  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

of  February  6,  by  which  the  Senate  declared  Stanton's 
removal  in  the  preceding  August  to  have  been  contrary 
to  the  Constitution  and  law,  was  passed  in  the  Senate's 
legislative  capacity  and  without  much  deliberation  and 
did  not  preclude  any  Senator  from  changing  his  mind 
in  a  judicial  proceeding,  where  he  must,  under  oath, 
decide  as  to  the  law  and  justice,  nor  may  he  consider 
what  will  be  the  political  result  of  failure  to  convict, 
even  if  it  be  "civil  commotion  and  bloodshed/' 

Not  only  did  he  so  argue  in  public  but,  when  some 
doubtful  senators  told  Grimes  of  Iowa  that  they  feared 
lest  Andrew  Johnson,  if  acquitted,  would  try  high 
handedly  to  stop  Congressional  reconstruction,  Reverdy 
Johnson  brought  about  a  casual  meeting  at  his  house 
of  the  President  and  Grimes,  without  the  foreknowledge 
of  either,  at  which  meeting  the  President  was  led  to 
express  sentiments,  proving  that  there  was  no  such 
danger.  Grimes  conveyed  these  sentiments  to  the  wav- 
erers  with  the  desired  result.11  On  May  16,  the  vote 
was  taken  and  the  President  was  acquitted  on  the  two 
leading  articles  by  one  vote,  as  the  prosecution  lacked 
one  vote  of  obtaining  the  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  neces 
sary  to  convict.  Senator  Grimes  was  ill  at  the  time 
and  it  was  uncertain  that  he  would  be  present.  At  the 
most  dramatic  moment,  just  before  the  vote  was  taken, 
Reverdy  Johnson  rose  and  said  of  Grimes: 

The  Senator  is  here.  I  have  sent  for  him.  He  is  down 
stairs.  He  will  be  in  the  chamber  in  a  moment.  He  is  here.11 

After  the  trial  was  over,  Johnson  was  prompt  as  ever 
to  defend  his  friends.  A  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  summoned  Senator  Henderson  to  appear 

11  DeWitt  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson  546,  Cox,  Three  Decades,  592. 

12  DeWitt  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  551. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  203 

before  it,  as  he  was  accused  of  having  been  corruptly 
influenced  in  his  vote,  and  Johnson  defended  him,13 
taking  the  position  also  that  no  Senator  should  appear 
before  the  House.  He  added:  "  I  am  the  oldest  member 
of  the  body,  I  believe,  if  not  in  point  of  service,  in  point 
of  age.  Its  honor  is  as  dear  to  me  as  the  government 
itself,  and  I  believe  there  is  no  corrupt  Senator."  So 
too  when  a  false  newspaper  report  said  that  Henderson, 
Johnson,  Sprague,  and  Chief  Justice  Chase  had  dined 
together  during  the  trial  and  thus  discussed  the  forma 
tion  of  a  new  party,  Johnson  came  to  the  jurist's  defence 
and  declared  that  "such  slanderers  as  the  reporter 
who  concocted  the  story  should  never  be  allowed  to 
polute  this  chamber  by  their  presence." 

As  to  the  opinions  of  the  Chief  Justice14  they  were  not  better 
known  to  me  than  they  are  to  everybody  else.  What  his 
opinions  were  with  reference  to  the  impeachment,  if  he  had 
any  decided  opinions,  and  what  were  the  reasons  which  led 
him  to  adopt  such  opinions  are  unknown  to  me.  I  had  my 
own.  I  had  no  desire  to  consult  with  him. 

Hereafter,  "the  public  judgment  will  be  pronounced,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  saying"  that  those  who  voted  to 
acquit  the  President, 

did  what  they  did  from  conscientious  conviction,  that  what 
they  did  was  the  result  of  their  calm  and  deliberate  consider 
ation  of  the  law  and  the  evidence,  and  that  they  were  bold 
enough,  defiant  enough  of  all  efforts  to  control  them  in  the 

13  On  May  21. 

14  On  June  i,  he  explained,  however,  that  he  voted  by  mistake  for  a  resolu 
tion  thanking  the  Chief  Justice  for  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  pre 
siding  office,  as  he  thought  the  resolution  was  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury.    He  thought  that  the  resolution  which  had  been  passed 
was  calculated  to  bring  the  judiciary  into  political  contests. 


204  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

discharge  of  a   judicial    duty,  finally   to    decide  as  they  did 
decide.15 

John  A.  J.  Creswell,  a  radical  Union  man,  by  guber 
natorial  appointment,  had  replaced  Hicks  as  Johnson's 
colleague.  To  succeed  Creswell,  the  Maryland  legisla 
ture  elected  Philip  Francis  Thomas,  a  Democrat,  in  the 
spring  of  1867,  as  we  have  seen.  After  long  argument, 
in  which  Johnson  took  an  active  part,  Thomas  was  not 
allowed  to  take  the  oath  of  office.  On  December  18, 
Johnson  moved  his  admission.  The  motion  was  referred 
to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  which  took  testimony  and 
reported  on  January  6.  Johnson  then  addressed  the 
Senate,  urging  that  Thomas  be  admitted.  He  had  been 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  closing  days  of  Bu 
chanan's  administration  and  had  been  accused  of  sym 
pathy  with  secession  then  and  with  bad  financial  man 
agement.  Johnson  denied  these  charges  and  claimed 
that  the  New  York  bankers  had  asked  Thomas's  resig 
nation,  merely  because  he  was  a  Southern  man.  The 
condition  of  affairs  in  Maryland,  at  the  time  of  Thomas's 
election,  was  also  alleged  to  be  such  that  he  should  not 
be  seated,  but  the  most  important  accusation  was  one 
not  brought  forward  previously,  namely  that  his  son 
had  been  in  the  Confederate  service  and  that  the  father 
had  given  him  one  hundred  dollars  ($100),  when  he  left 
home  to  enlist  at  the  age  of  eighteen  in  1863.  Johnson 
cited  the  instance  of  a  son  of  Governor  Bradford,  who  was 
also  in  the  Confederate  service  and  asserted  that  Thomas 
did  not  give  the  son  money  to  aid  the  insurrection  and 
never  wrote  him,  after  he  left  home.  The  boy  would 
go,  money  or  no.  The  father  gave  money  to  prevent 

13  He  assailed  an  officer  of  the  Senate  for  editing  a  paper  which  bitterly 
attacked  the  minority. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  2O5 

calamity  befalling  the  son  afterwards.  The  unreflect 
ing  youth  of  Maryland  were  easily  induced  to  go  South 
and,  through  their  erroneous  belief  in  slavery,  to  resist 
what  they  believed  to  be  the  unconstitutional  proceed 
ings  of  the  Union.  Senator  Edmunds  said  that  he  felt 
he  must  vote  against  Thomas,  since,  previous  to  his 
son's  enlistment,  he  "was  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
enemies  of  his  country."  Howard  also  opposed  admit 
ting  him,  but  Howe,  while  admitting  the  force  of  the 
charge  said  that  Maryland,  as  a  State,  had  a  right  to 
be  represented  by  Senators  of  her  choice  and  that  Thomas 
should  be  permitted  to  take  the  oath.  After  admission, 
the  Senator  might  be  expelled;  but  the  Senate  is  judge 
of  the  constitutional  qualifications  only  of  those  elected 
to  its  membership  and  may  not  add  to  these  qualifica 
tions.  Because  men  do  not  receive  the  penalties,  which 
the  law  denounces  against  treason,  "it  does  not  become 
the  Senate  to  sit  and  make  faces  at  them."  A  judge 
would  not  exclude  testimony,  by  refusing  to  allow  a 
witness  to  swear,  lest,  if  he  take  the  oath,  he  commit 
perjury. 

Conkling  doubted  the  possibility  of  exclusion  for  past 
treason  and  Howe  replied  that,  in  any  case,  the  penalty 
might  follow  present  perjury,  but  that  there  were  no 
limits  to  the  power  to  expel.  He  did  not  think  Thomas 
more  dangerous  than  any  other  Democrat  from  Mary 
land  and,  although  Howe  did  not  like  to  trust  the  wel 
fare  of  the  country  to  any  Democrat,  the  man  repre 
sented  the  opinion  of  Maryland  and  the  Senate  may  not 
disfranchise  a  State. 

Trumbull  next  took  part  in  the  debate,  opposing 
Howe's  position.  A  man  can  not  be  both  a  citizen  and 
an  enemy  and,  as  Thomas  had  shown  himself  to  be 
the  latter,  his  case  is  similar  to  a  man  convicted  of  bribery. 


2O6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Howe  controverted  this,  for  the  briber  is  disqualified, 
because  of  sentence  of  court;  but  the  Senate  had  no 
jurisdiction  to  try  crime  and  the  statutes  do  not  define 
disloyalty.  Doolittle  and  Trumbull  maintained  that 
Congress  might  disqualify,  by  imposing  punishment  for 
crimes  generally,  and  Edmunds  added  that  Thomas 
should  not  be  given  a  vote  on  the  question  of  his  own 
expulsion.  At  first,  Trumbull  had  favored  seating 
Thomas  and  then  examining  the  case,  but  believed  it 
competent  for  the  Senate  to  examine  into  the  case  first, 
as  it  was  a  continuous  body.  The  object  of  the  oath  is  to 
protect  the  country  against  disloyal  men  holding  office. 
Stewart  opposed  Thomas,  in  the  last  speech  of  the  day, 
and  said  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  covered  the  case 
and  gave16  the  Senate  authority,  as  Thomas  had  taken 
the  oath  to  support  the  government  and  later,  by  help 
ing  his  son,  was  accessory  before  the  fact  to  aiding 
rebels.  The  "trouble  is  that  we  are  not  in  the  habit  of 
regarding  rebellion  as  a  crime." 

The  subject  did  not  again  receive  discussion  until 
January  20,  when  Hendricks  favored  Thomas,  who  was 
a  "constitutional  Union  man,  dissenting  from  the  politi 
cal  policy  of  the  administration  at  that  time,  but  con 
curring  in  the  necessity  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Union 
through  the  power  of  the  general  government."  His 
assistance  of  his  son  had  no  criminal  design,  but  might 
be  compared  to  helping  a  wounded  Confederate,  or  pay 
ing  a  debt  to  a  man  going  South.  Frelinghuysen  spoke 
on  the  same  side.  The  question  is  judicial,  not  politi 
cal,  and  Thomas  was  "guilty  of  a  grave  mistake,"  but 
was  not  disloyal. 

The  debate  continued  on  the  next  day.  Howard  im 
pugned  Thomas's  conduct  in  1861,  and  his  mild  dis- 

16  Howe  said  he  did  not  know  whether  the  amendment  had  been  adopted. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  2O7 

suasion  of  his  son,  merely  saying  Maryland  had  not  gone 
out  of  the  Union,  when  he  should  have  had  the  youth 
arrested  by  the  provost  marshal.  Morton  of  Indiana 
followed  in  a  strong  speech  opposing  Thomas. 

Every  deliberative  body  has  the  right  to  protect  itself  from 
the  presence  of  disloyal  men,  or  of  great  criminals.  Thomas's 
disloyalty  is  shown  by  his  speech,  when  notified  of  his  sena 
torial  election,  and  by  the  fact  that  his  son  testified  that  he 
was  uncertain  as  to  his  father's  position  in  1861.  Thomas's 
letter  resigning  the  Treasury  portfolio  showed  him  to  be  "one 

of  the  original  conspirators  of  this  rebellion He 

expected  his  own  State  to  go  into  it.  It  was  known  at  that 
time  that  there  was  not  a  more  disloyal  city  in  the  Union  than 
the  City  of  Baltimore.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  subsequent 
course  of  events,  by  which  Maryland  was  held  for  the  time  in 
the  Union  by  the  force  of  arms,  I  have  no  doubt  Maryland 
would  have  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession.  We,  gentlemen, 
talk  about  the  loyalty  of  Maryland.  Allow  me  to  say  that 
it  was  a  constrained  loyalty. 

Williams  followed,  speaking  in  behalf  of  Thomas  and 
urging  the  Senate  to  accept  any  man  with  the  constitu 
tional  qualifications,  sent  by  a  legislature.  It  is  dan 
gerous  to  make  admission  to  the  Senate  a  political  ques 
tion,  and  investigation  and  punishment  for  perjury, if  nec 
essary,  may  properly  follow  taking  the  oath.  Rebellion 
is  not  a  private  crime  and,  although  Thomas  may  have 
sympathized  with  the  rebels,  he  did  not  give  them  aid 
and  comfort.  It  was  not  likely  that  Maryland  would 
elect  a  better  Democrat  and  a  loyal  State  should  not 
be  denied  the  right  to  representation.  Morrill,  oppos 
ing  Thomas's  admission,  held  it  disloyal  to  resign  the 
Treasury  at  the  crisis  and  the  gift  to  his  son  was  mis- 
prision  of  treason.  If  Thomas  is  admitted,  wrhere  shall 
the  Senate  stop?  A.  H.  Stephens  had  already  applied 


2O8  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

for  admission.  Stewart  closed  the  day's  debate,  sum 
ming  up  the  objections  of  previous  speakers,  develop 
ing  the  Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction,  blaming 
Thomas  for  not  keeping  his  son  from  going  South,  and 
claiming  that  there  was  no  evidence  that  Thomas  was 
willing  to  protect  every  Union  man  and  enforce  the 
civil  rights  bill  in  Maryland. 

The  debate  continued  on  January  22,  and  several 
other  Senators  took  part.  Doolittle  reminded  the  Sen 
ators  that  they  acted  in  a  judicial  capacity  and  should 
not  cite  extreme  cases,  such  as  that  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
The  only  question  is  as  to  a  person  doing  acts  "suscep 
tible  of  a  double  construction."  If  a  man  would  take 
the  oath,  he  should  have  his  seat.  The  fact  that  Thomas 
had  a  wrong  opinion  of  the  power  of  government  in  1861 
did  not  show  disloyalty,  for  many  loyal  men,  such  as 
Greeley,  had  it.  Drake  asserted  that  the  intent  of  the 
oath  was  to  search  the  innermost  recesses  of  a  rebel  con 
science.  The  Senators  must  not  be  made  accessories 
before  the  fact  to  perjury  nor  let  Thomas  take  the  oath, 
if  they  were  satisfied  that  he  would  perjure  himself  in 
doing  so.  If  a  small  rebel  is  admitted,  a  big  one  can 
not  be  kept  out. 

On  the  contrary,  Tipton  felt  that  none  of  these  charges 
were  sufficient  to  keep  Thomas  out  and  that  he  had  a 
"right  to  retain  his  States'  rights  heresies  at  home." 
Buckalew  felt  that  the  charge  of  disloyalty  in  1861  was 
absurd.  Thomas  had  some  degree  of  sympathy  with 
the  rebels,  but  settled  down  on  his  farm  and  did  no 
wrong.  The  speech  in  1867  is  not  important.  If  you 
concede  everything  in  regard  to  the  gift  to  his  son,  still 
the  Senate  is  not  competent  to  try  questions  of  criminal 
law.  If  Thomas's  intent  was  benevolent,  there  was  no 
crime.  In  point  of  law,  there  was  no  power  to  turn 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  2OQ 

away  a  man  with  regular  credentials,  willing  to  take  the 
oath,  except  in  case  of  a  traitor,  excluded  under  the 
power  of  preserving  public  safety  in  time  of  public  dan 
ger,  which  was  not  now  the  case.  Fessenden  announced 
that  he  should  vote  for  Thomas,  as  there  was  no  extreme 
need  of  exercising  any  extraconstitutional  power.  A 
refusal  to  permit  Thomas  to  take  the  oath  is  a  mere 
arbitrary  decision,  making  a  precedent  which  is  apt  to 
degenerate  into  a  party  question.  The  speech  of  1867 
and  the  resignation  in  1861  were  not  important.  Thomas 
was  following  the  existing  law,  when,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  he  refused  to  permit  tariff  duties  to  be  col 
lected  on  shipboard.  He  doubtless  loved  his  son  better 
than  his  country,  and  was  willing  to  let  him  go,  but  did 
not  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  South.  The  Senate 
must  not  exclude  all  Democrats.  Johnson  closed  the 
debate,  on  January  23,  urging  haste  in  settling  the 
matter.  He  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  de 
fend  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  to  say  that 
he  did  not  believe  that  five  of  them  had  said  they 
believed  the  reconstruction  measures  to  be  unconstitu 
tional.17 

On  February  7,  Johnson  announced  that  he  proposed 
soon  to  call  up  the  case  of  his  colleague,  inasmuch  as  the 
legislature  of  Maryland  was  in  session  and,  if  Thomas 
were  ousted,  could  at  once  elect  another  Senator.  Six 
days  later,  the  debate  was  resumed,  upon  a  motion  of 
Sumner  that  Thomas  was  guilty  of  misprision  of  treason 
for  his  conduct  in  reference  to  his  minor  son.  Loyalty 
was  a  qualification  for  admission  to  the  Senate  under 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  Trumbull  responded  that, 
if  Thomas  is  now  loyal,  he  should  be  admitted.  He 

17  "I  am  so  situated,"  he  added,  "that  I  read  the  papers  very  seldom  and 
indeed  I  am  hardly  able  to  read  them  at  all." 


2IO  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

defended  Thomas's  administration  of  the  Treasury, 
though  it  had  not  the  confidence  of  moneyed  men  and 
was  unpatriotic,  and  he  called  attention  to  the  facts  that 
Thomas  advised  his  son  and  other  young  men  not  to 
enter  the  rebel  army  and  that  the  money  given  the  son 
was  all  expended  before  the  rebel  lines  were  reached. 
As  a  juror,  he  would  not  find  Thomas  guilty.  Letters 
expressing  rebellious  sentiments  in  1861  had  been  written 
by  men,  like  Colonel  Stokes  of  Tennessee,  who  had 
continued  loyal  throughout  the  war  and  was  now  a 
Congressman.  Fessenden  followed  in  Thomas's  behalf 
and  remarked  that  Sumner  and  Trumbull  had  sat  in 
the  Senate  and  heard  men  say  they  were  going  home  to 
secede,  but  had  not  informed  on  them,  while  Brecken- 
ridge  even  sat  there,  when  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  was 
fought.  Thomas's  duty  should  have  led  him  to  do  more 
than  he  did,  but  his  act  did  not  make  him  a  traitor. 
Edmunds  spoke  in  opposition  to  Thomas  and  insisted 
that  the  war  began  before  January  II,  1861,  when 
Thomas  resigned.  In  a  long  and  eloquent  speech,  he 
claimed  that  Thomas  had  associated  with  rebels  and 
had  stopped  speaking  to  Union  men,  while  he  had 
merely  dissuaded  his  son  from  making  war  on  Maryland, 
because  it  had  not  gone  out  of  the  Union.  Yates  and 
Sherman  also  spoke  against  Thomas,  the  latter  speaker 
laying  stress  on  Thomas's  resignation  of  the  Treasury 
Secretaryship  two  days  after  the  "Star  of  the  West 
had  been  fired  upon,  because  he  did  not  agree  with 
Buchanan  as  to  measures  to  be  taken  in  reference  to 
conditions  in  South  Carolina."  The  resignation  was 
an  act  of  assistance  to  the  rebels  and  Thomas  had  never 
expressed  regret  for  it.  He  had  applied  to  vote  in 
Maryland,  but  had  refused  to  take  the  prescribed  oath, 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  211 

both  before  and  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  1864,  and  would  have  been  glad  to  go  out  of  his  State. 
Corbett  closed  the  day's  debate,  with  a  declaration 
that  Thomas  was  one  of  the  original  conspirators  against 
the  government  and  with  a  comparison  of  him  to  John 
son,  a  loyal  Senator,  who  "  stood  forth  like  a  giant  in 
1 86 1  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  Union."  On  the 
fourteenth  Thomas  was  defended  by  Tipton  and  Buck- 
alew,  the  latter  of  whom  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that,  when  Thomas  found  his  son  tarried  in  Washington 
for  two  months,  he  induced  his  wife  to  write  urging  the 
youth  to  come  home.  Speeches  in  opposition  to  Thomas 
were  made  by  Yates,  Morton,  Stewart,  Fowler,  Drake 
and  Howard,  the  last  of  whom  said  that,  when  the 
Subtreasury  funds  were  seized  at  Charleston  on  January 
8,  1861,  Thomas  uttered  no  rebuke  and  made  no  at 
tempt  to  defend  the  treasury.  The  debate  then  went 
over  to  the  eighteenth,  when  it  was  taken  up  by  Trum- 
bull,  who  thought  that  the  Judiciary  Committee  should 
have  expressed  an  opinion  in  the  matter,  instead  of 
merely  reporting  the  evidence  and  saying  that  there 
was  nothing  to  keep  out  Thomas  except  his  conduct 
in  reference  to  his  son.  Thomas  was  too  loyal  to  agree 
with  Buchanan  and  the  distrust  of  Thomas  felt  by  the 
New  York  capitalists  was  the  real  cause  of  his  resig 
nation.  We  fed  rebel  prisoners  and  Thomas  did  no 
more  for  his  son.  Ferry  made  a  speech  in  opposition. 
Johnson  then  spoke  in  Thomas's  behalf,  and  endeavored 
to  prove  Maryland's  loyalty.18  On  the  question  of  ad- 

18  On  January  31,  he  wrote  Governor  Bradford,  asking  for  facts  for  a  speech 
to  prove  Maryland's  loyalty  and  saying  that  the  failure  to  reelect  Johnson  to 
the  Senate,  had,  in  the  estimation  of  Congressmen  of  both  parties,  done  the 
legislature  of  Maryland  harm. 


212  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

mitting  Thomas,  the  Constitution  made  each  Senator  a 
judge.  The  legislative  branch  of  the  government  de 
pends  for  its  existence  on  the  States,  whose  legislatures 
have  right  of  choice  of  Senators,  subject  to  the  constitu 
tional  restrictions.  If  Thomas  is  excluded,  it  is  on 
ground  of  implied  power  to  add  qualifications  for  admis 
sion.  The  authority  to  impose  an  oath  is  questionable, 
the  right  to  go  back  of  that  oath  is  also  questionable, 
and  there  is  no  need  to  do  so  here,  for  Thomas  is  a  man 
of  honor  and  a  gentleman,  so  that  he  may  be  trusted  to 
take  the  oath.  If  Thomas  is  guilty  of  misprision  of 
treason,  the  son  was  guilty  of  treason,  but  an  intent 
to  join  those  who  levy  war  against  us  is  not  treason. 
Thomas  had  been  commissioner  of  patents,  until  he  was 
called  to  the  Treasury  on  December  12,  1860,  and  he 
found  that  Buchanan,  "by  a  policy  which  I  forbear  to 
characterize  as  I  think  it  should  be  characterized,  be 
cause  he  is  an  old  man  and  has  rendered  service  to  the 
country,  by  a  policy  of  imbecility  and  inactivity,  had 
permitted  the  authorities  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
to  encircle  Sumter  with  a  range  of  forts."  If  Thomas 
had  been  a  secessionist,  he  would  have  remained  in 
office  to  embarrass  the  administration.  Thomas  showed 
loyalty,  by  removal  of  the  revenue  cutter  officer  who 
had  turned  over  his  vessel  to  the  South  Carolinians. 
Many  men  still  hoped  for  peace  at  that  time  and  the 
Peace  Convention  of  the  early  months  of  1861  was,  for 
the  most  part,  animated  with  the  purpose  to  obviate 
war,  without  seriously  affecting  the  character  of  the 
government.  Even  Lincoln  underestimated  the  Con 
federate  strength  and  called  for  75,000  instead  of  for 
400,000  men.  Many  Marylanders,  "greatly  and  lament 
ably  in  error,"  went  into  the  rebel  army  from  a  con 
viction  that  the  South  had  a  just  cause. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  213 

In  the  struggle  of  arms,  the  men  of  Maryland  were  true  to 
their  lineage  in  either  army,  their  daring  and  impetuous  cour 
age  was  strikingly  exhibited.  Hundreds  and  thousands  of  them 
now  sleep  upon  the  fields  which  were  the  scenes  of  their  valor. 
In  this,  I  feel,  as  I  hope,  an  honest  and  blameless  pride.  I 
can  point  to  them,  as  demonstrating  that  the  sons  of  Maryland 
have  not  degenerated,  that  they  are  the  worthy  descendants  of 
ancestors,  who,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  when  under  the 
command  of  Williams,  Smallwood,  or  Howard,  never  turned 
their  back  to  the  foe  and  rarely  ever  met  him  but  to  conquer 
.and  who,  in  1781,  at  the  battle  of  Cowpens,  led  on  by  Howard, 
by  a  brilliant  charge,  threw  the  enemy  into  confusion  and, 
snatching  victory  from  defeat,  changed  the  fortunes  of  the 
day  and  achieved  historic  and  deathless  fame  for  the  Maryland 
line  and  its  gallant  leader. 

On  the  nineteenth,  the  debate  closed.  Howard  showed 
that  Thomas  was  intimate  with  such  secessionists  as 
Floyd,  Cobb  and  Thompson,  and  engaged  in  discussion 
with  Trumbull  over  a  statement  that  the  order  to  reen- 
force  Sumter  caused  Thomas  to  resign.  Buckalew  spoke 
in  behalf  of  Maryland  and  then  Johnson  accused  Howard 
of  vituperation  in  saying  that  Thomas  would  perjure 
himself  and  suborn  his  son  in  order  to  take  his  seat. 
Thomas  is  a  "frank  and  an  able  man,  an  honest  and  an 
intelligent  man  and,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said  of  him,  a  patriot,  in  the  true  sense  of  that  term,  as 
pure  and  perfect  as  the  honorable  Senator  for  Michigan." 
Thomas  was  an  honest  man  who  left  the  Treasury  as 
poor  as  when  he  entered  the  office,  while  his  loyalty 
was  shown,  by  refusing  to  pay  a  claim  which  Floyd 
advocated,  and  by  transferring  $350,000  from  St.  Louis 
to  New  York,  while  he  transferred  not  a  dollar  to  the 
South.  War  was  not  flagrant  in  January,  1861.  As 
late  as  the  end  of  February,  loyal  men  thought  com 
promise  was  possible.  The  result  was  not  certain. 


214  RE VERB Y   JOHNSON 

We  trembled,  lest  England  or  France  should  interfere 
and  the  Union  be  dissolved.  Queen  Victoria  probably 
prevented  British  interference.  "I  believed  and  was 
thought  oversanguine  that,  in  the  end,  all  would  come 
right,  but  when  and  after  what  loss,  I  knew  not/'  Even 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Union  man  as  he  was,  on  March 
15,  1 86 1,  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  to  have  the 
Secretary  of  War  inquire,  if  it  were  better  to  retain  the 
Southern  forts. 

Conkling  now  moved  that  Thomas  be  refused  admis 
sion,  as  he  can  not  with  truth  take  the  oath  of  office, 
and  Drake  moved  that  Thomas,  having  voluntarily  given 
aid  to  persons  in  armed  hostility,  is  not  entitled  to  be 
a  Senator.  Howe  disliked  Thomas,  but  felt  that  the 
parties  to  the  controversy  were  Maryland  and  the  United 
States  and  that  Maryland  had  the  right  to  elect  and 
send  here  any  man  who  had  the  constitutional  qualifi 
cations.  The  Constitution  does  not  insist  that  a  man 
have  been  loyal  in  the  past,  but  that  he  swear  to  be 
loyal  in  the  future.  The  power  to  expel  is  to  be  dis 
tinguished  from  that  to  admit  and  gives  Congress  the 
needed  safeguard.  Davis  agreed  to  this  position;  but 
Conness,  though  a  Democrat,  thought  slavery  and  war 
rose  above  all  other  questions  and  that  the  Senate  should 
be  preserved  from  "living  rebels."  "At  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  the  Devil  had  a  mortgage  on  nearly  all 
Maryland  which,  during  the  war,  he  could  not  foreclose, 
but  has  now  done  so."  In  a  final  speech,  Johnson  cited 
the  acceptances  of  the  resignations  of  Robert  E.  Lee 
and  Franklin  Buchanan  by  the  Secretaries  of  War  and 
Navy  in  1861,  which  acceptances  were  mistaken,  as 
Johnson  thought,  who  "was  here  at  the  time  and  sensi 
bly  alive  to  the  dangers."  He  asked  in  vain,  that  by- 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  215 

gones  be  permitted  to  be  bygones.  Thomas  was  refused 
admission  by  the  vote  of  21  to  28.19 

The  Maryland  legislature  soon  elected  Harrison  W. 
Vickers  of  Kent  County  to  fill  the  vacant  senatorial 
seat  and  Johnson  presented  his  credentials  on  March  9. 
Sumner  moved  to  refer  them  to  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
to  see  if  Maryland  had  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment,  since  fourteen  counties,  with  one-fourth  of  the 
white  population,  elect  fourteen  of  the  twenty-four  Sen 
ators;  but  he  withdrew  the  resolution  and  Vickers  was 
sworn  in.20 

Together  with  the  impeachment  proceedings  and  the 
defence  of  Thomas,  the  questions  arising  out  of  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Southern  States  occupied  John 
son's  attention.  On  December  5,  he  opposed  the  equal 
rights  bill  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  was  willing 
to  give  the  negroes  every  privilege  necessary  to  their 

19  In  the  discussion  with  Cameron,  the  latter  misunderstood  Johnson  to 
speak  of  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  resignation  and  said  Johnson  told  him  that  he 
would  not  act  against  the  government.     Cameron  also  said  that  he  had  arrested 
the  legislature  of  Maryland  to  prevent  them  from  taking  the  State  out.    John 
son  responded  that  the  Maryland  legislature  could  not  have  done  any  harm, 
but  that  Lee  did.     Cameron  then  told  a  hearsay  tale  of  Lee's  deserting  the 
army  under  false  pretences,  which  Johnson  doubted,  as  not  in  keeping  with 
Lee's  honorable  character,  and  reiterated  his  old  position  that  Buchanan's 
capital  error  was  in  confounding  war  against  a  State  with  the  duty  of  enforc 
ing,  as  against  citizens,  obedience  to  the  Constitution.    On  February  21,  when 
Harvey,  the  Minister  to  Portugal,  was  blamed  for  his  alleged  statement  that  in 
1 86 1  Lincoln  had  authorized  him  to  say  that  Sumter  would  not  be  reenforced, 
Johnson  defended  him  and  said  that  Harvey  acted,  at  the  time,  at  the  request 
of  Seward,  who  was  then,  in  some  particulars,  conducting  the  War  and  Navy 
Departments.     Cameron  said  that  this  was  a  reflection  upon  him  and  Johnson 
responded  that  he  doubted  not  that  Cameron  did  his  duty,  but  insisted  that 
Seward  did  things  which  were  properly  in  the  sphere  of  the  War  Department. 

20  Conness  opposed  Sumner  and  Nye  supported  him,  saying  that  Swann's 
appointment  of  registers  of  voters  was  a  fraud  on  the  Constitution  of  1864, 
and  that  R.  B.  Carmichael's  letter  to  Governor  Bowie  proved  that  Swann's 
act  was  the  result  of  a  corrupt  bargain. 


2l6  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

protection,  but  he  did  not  feel  that  allowance  of  suffrage 
to  them  was  politic  or  demanded  by  any  ground  of 
principle. 

That  right,  according  to  my  understanding  of  it,  is  the  creature 
of  positive  law,  not  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  with  which 
we  are  endowed,  and  may  or  may  not  exist  in  any  particular 
community,  as  that  community  may  think  is  advantageous  or 
not  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  the  whole. 

He  objected,  seriously,  to  permitting  black  men  to 
serve  as  jurors,  especially  in  criminal  cases,  since  for 
the  most  part  they  had  just  emerged  from  slavery. 
The  number  of  negroes  in  Washington  may  even  lead 
to  the  election  of  judges  of  that  race,  which  would  be 
detrimental  to  the  rest  of  the  people.21  Yet,  when  the 
bill  was  passed  and  was  not  returned  within  ten  days 
by  the  President,  Johnson  held  it  became  law,  though 
Congress  was  not  in  session  at  the  time,  as  there  had 
been  no  close  of  the  session,  but  only  a  recess  for  the 
Christmas  holidays.22  Drake  had  been  much  offended 
at  the  President's  message  and  offered  a  resolution  of 
censure.  He  had  also  printed  in  the  newspapers  an 
open  letter  to  Reverdy  Johnson,  saying  that  the  supreme 
authority  over  the  people  everywhere,  in  relation  to 
all  things,  is  in  the  government  of  the  United  States 
and,  especially,  in  its  legislative  departments,  and  that 
there  are  no  rights  which  can  be  called,  in  any  proper 
sense,  sovereign  in  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union. 
Johnson  defended  the  President's  message  and  answered 
Drake's  "constitutional  heresies"  in  an  able  historical 

21  Recent  elections  showed  that  Siimner's  policy  was  not  altogether  palatable 
to  the  people. 

22  Vide  speech  on  January  7  and  24.     On  March  24,  he  said,  if  the  body  be 
not  in  actual  session,  the  bill  may  be  returned  to  one  of  its  officers. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  21  / 

speech.23  When  the  Confederation,  creating  a  league, 
had  been  adopted  by  free  and  independent  States,  they 
soon  found  the  need  of  a  "government  vested  with 
powers  adequate  to  its  own  preservation,  a  govern 
ment,  therefore,  authorized  to  enforce  those  powers,  not 
through  the  instrumentality  of  other  governments,  but, 
directly,  upon  the  citizens  individually,  and  above  all 
having  the  authority  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain 
the  interests  of  all  against  the  nations  elsewhere  and  to 
prevent  conflicts  among  the  States  themselves,"  but 
not  to  extinguish  the  States.  Only  such  powers  were 
transferred  to  the  United  States  as  were  "necessary 
and  adequate  to  maintain  our  independence  against  the 
world  and  preserve  peace  among  ourselves."  Curiously 
enough,  Virginia  is  "now,  in  the  estimation  of  some, 
supposed  to  be  out  of  the  Union  by  means  of  a  war  waged 
for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  Union  unbroken." 
The  Supreme  Court,  for  example  in  the  McCulloh  case, 
had  held  the  view  of  State  sovereignty  and  Drake  him 
self,  sitting  in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Missouri 
Constitution,  though  he  oposed  exacting  an  oath  of 
loyalty  from  the  clergy,  did  not  object  to  it  on  the  ground 
that  Missouri  had  no  sovereign  power.  The  executive 
power  is  not  detailed  in  the  Constitution  and  the  Presi 
dent  also  has  veto,  treaty  making,  and  nominating 
powers,  his  sole  responsibility  being  by  impeachment. 
He  was  not  bound  to  approve  bills  for  reconstruction,  and 
was  right  to  state  his  opinion  of  those  laws,  but  he  had 
enforced  them  faithfully.  Drake  would  have  done  bet 
ter  to  answer  the  message.  Despite  their  difference  in 
views,  "the  relations  between  the  honorable  member 
and  myself  are  such  and,  I  am  glad  to  say,  they  are 
equally  friendly  with  every  member  of  the  body,  that 

23  On  December  12. 


218  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

he  will  never  receive  at  my  hands  anything  but  what 
will  be  most  cheerfully  rendered,  the  greatest  courtesy." 

The  President  is  not  subordinate  to  the  legislature. 
Jackson,  who  wrote  the  nullification  message,  also  wrote 
the  bank  messages,  which  Johnson  analyzed  at  length. 
President  Johnson's  position  is  stronger,  for  no  court 
has  said  that  the  reconstruction  laws  are  constitutional, 
those  laws  whose  only  warrant  is  that  the  Southern 
States  have  no  existence  and  their  citizens  possess  no 
individual  rights,  but  "are  bound  to  submit  to  the  abso 
lute  and  uncontrolled  will  of  the  legislative  depart 
ment."  Clay  had  once  carried  a  resolution  of  censure 
against  Jackson  and,  although  "I  can  never  men 
tion  him,  but  with  reverence  and  admiration.  He  was 
impulsive  and  strong  willed,  of  masculine  understanding 
and  of  the  purest  patriotism,"  yet  he  "could  bear  no 
brother  near  the  throne.  Let  the  Senate  beware  of  a 
popular  uprising  against  its  policy  and,  instead  of  war 
ring  with  the  President,  let  it  restore  peace,  revise 
taxation,  maintain  unbroken  plighted  faith  and  preserve 
unsullied  the  honor  of  the  nation." 

When  the  supplementary  reconstruction  bill  was  under 
discussion,  on  January  27,  Johnson  delivered  a  long  and 
able  address,  attempting  to  show  that  the  doctrines 
advanced  in  the  bill  were  "unwarranted  by  the  Consti 
tution,  unsound  and  mischievous."  He  defended,  with 
great  erudition,  the  power  of  the  Supreme  Court  to 
declare  laws  void  and  maintained  that,  without  this 
power,  the  government  would  not  have  had  its  great 
success,  nor  its  prosperity.  The  object  of  the  Conven 
tion,  which  formed  the  Constitution,  was  to  preserve 
republican  liberty  by  preserving  a  republican  form  of 
government,  not  to  guard  against  the  abuses  of  those 
who  might  be  called  upon  to  administer  a  government 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  219 

of  that  form."  Morton  was  wrong  in  saying  that  the 
word  "loyal"  may  be  interpolated  in  the  guarantee  of 
republican  government  of  the  States.  When  the  Con 
stitution  was  adopted,  in  most  of  the  States  there  was 
slavery  and  in  none  was  there  universal  suffrage.  None 
then  supposed  that,  in  that  guarantee,  lurked  a  pro 
vision  which  might  be  used  by  Congress,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  taking  away  from  the  States  authority  to  regu 
late  suffrage.  The  Federalist  shows  that  the  clause 
gave  Congress  no  power  to  create  a  government  for  a 
State,  "but  merely  to  defend  the  States."  What  is 
disloyalty?  Is  it  to  "entertain  abstract  opinions  upon 
the  meaning  of  the  Constitution,  to  have  believed  in 
the  doctrine  of  secession  in  the  past,  or  to  believe  in 
it  now,"  to  disagree  with  Congress?  "No,  it  may  be 
an  error  of  opinion,  no  more,"  and  Reverdy  Johnson  had 
differed  with  each  department  of  government. 

In  the  exercise  of  my  own  honest  judgment  and  having  at 
heart  the  prosperity  and  safety  of  my  country,  I  did,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  rebellion  and  before,  denounce  it,  as 
resting  upon  a  doctrine  finding  no  support  in  the  Constitution 
of  our  country,  but,  on  the  contrary,  at  war  with  many  of  its 
express  provisions.  I  had,  however,  the  charity  to  believe, 
and  I  believe  now,  that  the  opposite  doctrine  to  my  own  was 
maintained  with  equal  sincerity  by  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  citizens  to  be  found  in  every  State  in  the  Union 

When  Jefferson  wrote  the  Kentucky  resolves  of  1799, 
he  was  wrong,  but  not  disloyal.  The  men,  who  govern 
Maryland  now,  do  so  rightfully,  as  far  as  the  laws  are 
concerned.  "That  they  erred  in  the  past  in  sympathiz 
ing  with  the  South,  nobody  is  more  satisfied  than  I 
am,"  and  they  know  now  that  secession  would  have 
ruined  Maryland,  which  would  have  been  the  battle 
ground  of  the  war.  This  war  was  insane,  as  well  as 


220  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

unconstitutional  in  its  origin,  and,  as  Johnson  predicted 
from  the  beginning,  it  was  fatal  to  slavery,  "the  very 
institution  which  its  authors  thought  to  preserve  by 
it."  The  fact  that  slavery  is  gone  is  "compensation 
almost  entire  for  all  that  has  occurred,  terrible  though 
the  losses  were."  The  doctrine  of  secession  is  also  dead 
and  prosperity  may  now  be  looked  for.  We  must  re 
member  the  clauses  as  to  ex  post  facto  laws,  treason  and 
jury  trials,  as  well  as  the  guarantee  clause.  The  bill  pro 
posed  to  place  ten  States  under  the  dominion  of  the 
military  forces  and  make  the  genefal-in-chief  a  despot. 
"I  would  not  entrust  George  Washington  himself  with 
such  power."  From  the  first,  Johnson  believed  that 
the  Southern  States  never  ceased  to  exist  as  States,  and 
repudiated,  as  absurd,  the  doctrine  that  the  United 
States,  exercising  its  power  of  self-preservation,  could 
work  the  destruction  of  a  State.  He  appealed  to  the 
decision  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  in  proof  of  the  con 
tinued  existence  of  the  States.24  The  war  ended  in 
April,  i865,25  since  which  time  no  man  can  be  tried, 
except  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  Constitution, 
which  knows  no  doctrine  of  necessity,  but  was  made  to 
meet  every  emergency.  Johnson  had  favored  a  general 
amnesty  at  the  end  of  the  war  and  now  pleaded  that 
the  South  be  brought  back  in  peace. 

On  January  31,  he  favored  permitting  Ohio  to  with 
draw  her  assent  to  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  as  he 
believed  that,  before  the  full  number  of  States  had 
assented,  a  State's  vote  is  a  mere  promise  to  assent, 
when  others  are  ready.  Three  days  later,  Ferry  re 
ferred  to  Johnson's  vote  on  March  2,  1867  for  the  recon 
struction  bill  and  said: 

24  On  deciding  on  the  invalidity  of  the  sequestration  act  of  North  Carolina. 

25  Vide  decision  in  Ex  parte  Milligan. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  221 

I  thanked  God  in  my  heart  that  there  had  come  down  to 
us,  from  the  palmy  days  of  the  Republic,  one  Senator,  who 
would  place  country  above  party  and  give  his  vote  accordingly. 

Johnson  explained: 

I  did  it  from  a  conviction  that  the  measure  for  which  I  voted 
was  calculated,  sooner  than  any  other  that  I  thought  was  likely 
to  be  introduced,  to  heal  the  troubles  of  the  country  and  bring 
peace  to  the  South.  It  is  equally  true,  that  never,  for  one 
moment  from  the  time  I  gave  that  vote  to  the  present  hour, 
have  I  regretted  it  and,  under  the  same  circumstances,!  should 
vote  as  I  did  then. 

He  had  thought  the  bill  inconsistent  with  the  Con 
stitution,  but 

I  yielded  my  opinion,  in  order  to  heal  the  troubles  in  which 
the  country  was  placed,  and  I  did  it,  under  a  belief  .... 
that  that  measure  would  be  a  final  one  upon  the  part  of  Con 
gress A  Senator  of  the  United  States,  who  really 

believes  that  his  country  is  in  danger,  unless  its  condition  is 
changed  for  the  better,  has  no  right  to  stand  upon  his  own 
convictions  of  constitutional  duty,  in  time  of  admitted  peril 
to  the  country,  when  he  finds  that  he  differs  with  many  gentle 
men  of  acknowledged  ability  and  whose  sincerity  he  had  no 
right  to  question. 

But  the  desired  result  had  not  come.  u  The  country 
is  not  at  peace.  The  measure  for  which  I  voted  has 
not  proved  a  finality."  Johnson  had  received  commen 
dation  for  this  vote  from  many  men  in  the  South,  even 
those  who  "  perilled  their  lives  in  the  effort  to  establish 
for  her  a  separate  independence."  ''If  I  could  be  mor 
ally  convinced  that  the  South  would  in  a  short  time," 
if  the  supplementary  bill  be  "adopted,  be  restored  to 
the  condition  in  which  she  was  before  the  war  com 
menced,"  he  would  vote  for  it,  but  he  did  not  feel  that 


222  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

this  would  be  the  case.  He  defended  the  attorney- 
general,  for  giving  the  President  an  opinion  as  to  the 
constitutionality  of  a  bill  before  it  passed  Congress,  as 
it  would  be  improper  for  one  to  defend  in  the  Supreme 
Court  a  law  he  thought  unconstitutional.26  He  also 
opposed27  strongly  the  passage  of  the  Supreme  Court 
jurisdiction  bill,  to  take  the  McCardle  case  from  that 
tribunal.28 

It  was  a  defect  in  the  Constitution  that  it  did  not 
provide  what  courts  are  to  exercise  judicial  power.  But 
for  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  examine  all 
cases  arising  under  the  Constitution,  the  government 
would  have  ended  long  since.  It  is  a  great  and  peace 
ful  tribunal,  "having  no  power  except  that  which  reason 
gives,  having  no  voice  except  that  which  speaks  the 
law."  Stewart  had  attacked  the  court  and,  sneering 
at  his  "peculiar  style  of  oratory,"  Johnson  denied  that 

it  was  for  the  political  department  of  the  government  to  deter 
mine  whether  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  is  a  public  enemy. 
If  he  has  forfeited  the  protection  of  the  law,  it  is  a  case  for  the 
courts.  If  the  court,  in  a  case  brought  before  it  legitimately 
between  parties,  ....  finds  that  the  law  .... 
was  one  which  Congress  had  no  authority  under  the  powers 

26  On  February  5. 

27  On  March  26. 

28  McCardle  had  been  arrested  for  disturbing  the  public  peace,  exciting  to 
insurrection,  libeling  General  Ord,  and  preventing  contracts  from  being  carried 
out.    The  act  of  February  5,  1867  had  been  passed  to  protect  colored  people, 
to  prevent  officers  from  being  harassed  by  suits  for  damages  and  to  ascertain 
what  were  the  powers  of  the  government  during  the  war.     Under  the  act,  if 
the  State  courts  caused  an  officer's  arrest,  application  might  be  made  to  the 
Federal  Courts  for  a  writ  of  Habeas  corpus.     The  government  claimed  that  the 
Circuit  Court  had  no  jurisdiction  and  the  Supreme  Court  stated  that  it  would 
decide  the  case,  when  the  case  came  for  trial  on  its  merits.    McCardle  was 
not  arrested  until  November.,  1867,  and  so  could  not  have  been  engaged  in 
rebellion. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  223 

vested  in  them  by  the  Constitution,  to  pass,  they  have  no 
discretion,  they  must  so  hold,  or  violate  their  duty  and  their 
oath. 

The  fact  that  the  act  repealing  that  which  allowed  an 
appeal  was  passed  in  two  days  is  criticised.  It  is  "a 
dangerous  thing  to  deal  with  courts  of  justice  in  this 
suspicious  spirit."  "There  are  but  two  modes  by  which 
controversies  can  be  settled,  as  we  all  know,  force  and 
law.  Force  necessarily  leads  to  destruction.  Law,  if 
observed,  leads  to  peace." 

When  the  Washington  city  charter  was  debated, 
Johnson  stated  that,  though  he  had  the  kindest  feeling 
for  negroes,  he  would  not  appoint  them  to  offices  of 
any  consequence.  Most  of  them  are  wholly  unedu 
cated  and  came  to  Washington  during  the  war,  so  they 
have  no  interest  in  the  city.  Even  Sumner  did  not 
give  them  tickets  to  the  impeachment  trial. 

It  is  one  thing  to  give  to  them  all  the  rights  of  citizenship, 
to  place  them  upon  an  equality,  political,  with  all  the  white 
race  and  another  thing  to  enable  them  to  be  placed  in  a  situa 
tion,  through  some  political  contrivance,  some  party  measure, 
to  get  possession  of  the  offices  of  the  government. 

If  their  safety  depended  on  it,  he  would  even  give 
them  office,  but  they  can  enjoy  their  rights  without  it 
and  the  prejudice  against  their  holding  office  of  itself, 
looking  to  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  community,  is  a 
reason  against  granting  the  privilege. 

When  Arkansas  asked  for  readmission,  his  calmness 
and  wisdom  were  shown29  by  advocacy  of  a  reference 
of  the  new  State  constitution  to  the  Judiciary  Com 
mittee.  There  will  be  no  harm  in  delay  and  admission 

29  On  May  13. 


224  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

might  lead  to  the  charge  that  new  Senators  had  been 
added  as  judges  in  the  impeachment  trial.  Such  addi 
tion  would  be  improper  and  no  suspicion  of  the  possi 
bility  of  it  should  be  allowed.  The  question  of  admit 
ting  Arkansas  came  up  again  on  June  I,  and  Johnson 
said  that  the  States  had  the  right  to  control  the  fran 
chise,  just  as  if  there  were  no  Federal  Constitution,  and 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  limit  it.  If  the  general 
government  can  not  take  the  regulation  of  the  franchise 
directly  from  a  State,  it  cannot  do  so  indirectly,  nor  can 
it  impose  on  Arkansas  as  a  condition  of  readmission, 
that  she  shall  not  regulate  the  franchise.  There  are  no 
express  terms  in  the  Constitution,  assuring  the  equality 
of  the  States,  but,  without  absolute  equality,  the  govern 
ment  could  not  exist  and  the  intendment  of  the  Consti 
tution  Avas  clear,  from  the  equality  of  senatorial  repre 
sentation.  If  New  York  and  Maryland  can  regulate 
the  suffrage  and  Arkansas  can  not,  they  are  not  equal. 
A  State  differs  greatly  from  a  territory,  which  Congress 
may  govern  as  it  thinks  best  for  the  interest  of  the 
people,  as  the  territory  is  held  by  Congress  in  trust  for 
the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  territory. 

If  we  can  insist  that  negroes  vote,  we  may  insist  that 
women  and  aliens  vote.30  Congress  may  not  restrict  a 
new  State  from  its  necessary  attributes  as  an  independ 
ent  sovereign  government.  "I  want  the  union  to  be 
what  it  was,  in  every  respect,  except  slavery."  He 
wished  reintroduction  of  the  seceded  States,  not  from 
recollection  of  their  past  renown,  but  from  hope  of  future 
renown.  Government  by  military  rule  through  the  cen 
tral  government,  is  unsuited  for  the  States. 

30  On  February  25,  he  said  that,  in  Maryland,  naturalized  citizens  must  pro 
duce  their  naturalization  papers  in  order  to  vote. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  225 

Not  that  I  have  any  prejudice  against  the  army  as  such, 
against  the  officers  who  have  led  it  during  the  last  war  to  vic 
tory  upon  so  many  battlefields  and  have  won  for  themselves 
such  imperishable  renown,  frustrating,  as  they  did,  the  great 
est  rebellion  ever  known  among  men;  but  because,  from  the 
very  nature  of  military  power,  it  is  dangerous  to  individual 
freedom.31 

Although  he  urged  the  admission  of  the  Southern 
States  speedily,  and  opposed  "the  imposition  of  any 
fundamental  condition"  thereto,  he  objected  to  the  ad 
mission  of  Georgia  with  a  constitution  containing  a 
clause  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  which  was 
unconstitutional.32 

Questions  of  taxation  interested  Johnson  and  he 
moved33  to  exempt  the  crop  of  1867  from  the  cotton 
tax,34  which  he  thought  unconstitutional,  as  he  could 
not  distinguish  it  from  a  direct  export  tax.  Taxation 
ought  to  fall  as  lightly  as  possible  on  the  people,  while 
the  cotton  tax  is  not  only  oppressive  but  ruinous.  It 
might  have  been  borne  when  slavery  existed,  but  "that 
labor  we  have  now,  and  I  am  glad  to  know,  terminated 
forever."  As  it  is  desirable  to  have  cotton  growing,  \ve 
should  give  a  bounty,  rather  than  discourage  the  culti 
vation.  It  was  not  a  question  of  rebellion  or  of  loyalty, 

31  On  June  23,  when  the  credentials  of  the  Senators  from  Arkansas  were 
referred  to  the  judiciary   committee,  Johnson  said  that  if  Congress  did  not 
recognize  the  Arkansas  legislature,  neither  had  it  that  of  California,  when  the 
first  Senators  came  therefrom,  and  remarked  that  he  had  once  given  an  opinion 
in  Maryland  that,  if  the  Governor  refused  to  sign  a  certificate  of  election,  cre 
dentials  signed  by  two  presiding  officers  of  the  General  Assembly  would  be 
sufficiently  authenticated. 

32  On  June  23.     On  June  30,  he  advocated  the  admission  of  Florida's  Sena 
tors,  although  that  State  said  it  adopted  instead  of  ratified,  the  amendments 
to  the  Federal  Constitution. 

33  On  December  16. 

34  On  January  7.    The  cotton  tax  was  10  per  cent. 


226  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

but  of  financial  policy.  We  desire  to  have  the  South 
reinstated  in  all  the  resources  of  wealth  formerly  hers 
except  slaves.35 

He  advocated  a  drawback  on  materials  for  the  build 
ing  of  vessels,  as  he  believed  that36  "there  are  some  indus 
tries  of  the  country  that  are  more  exclusively  national 
than  others  and,  if  any  one  can  be  said  to  be  more  na 
tional  than  another,  it  is  the  marine,  the  shipbuilding 
industry  of  the  country,"  which  was  virtually  extinct 
in  the  United  States.  It  was  an  art  requiring  high  skill 
and  the  Maine  shipyards  were  deserted,  while  the  glories 
of  the  privateers  of  1812,  of  the  Baltimore  clippers,  and 
the  New  England  boats  had  passed  away. 

I  have,  for  years,  felt  regret  ....  at  the  fact  that 
we  were  about  to  leave  the  ocean,  the  scene  of  so  many  of  our 
noble  exploits,  the  scene  upon  which  we  won  such  imperishable 
renown  in  the  past,  to  the  hands  exclusively  of  other  nations, 

who  may  become  enemies A  name  upon  the 

ocean,  one  that  will  not  only  be  respected  but  feared,  is  of 
great  value  to  a  nation. 

He  was  a  protectionist,  but  favored37  a  tax  on  the 
manufacture  of  sugar,  arguing  that  the  manufacturers 
had  made  great  fortunes  during  the  war  and  had  better 
reduce  expenses. 

Whether  free  trade,  in  the  absolute  sense  of  that  term,  would, 
at  this  time,  be  the  proper  policy  of  the  government  is  a  ques- 

35  Negroes  already  were  growing  the   cotton   crop   on  shares  and  so  .lose 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  compensation.    On  March  12,  he  defended  the 
permission  given  exporters  of  distilled  spirits  to  export,  within  thirty  days, 
alcohol  and  rum  made  before  January.    On  March  28,  he  opposed  granting 
internal  revenue  collectors  the  power  to  compromise,  in  cases  of  fraud  in  pay 
ing  the  whiskey  tax.    On  April  6,  he  said  that  the  departments  have  probably 
used  unexpended  appropriations  for  the  ensuring  year  and  have  sent  in  esti 
mates  on  that  basis. 

36  On  March  17. 

37  On  March  19. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  22J 

tion  which  I  do  not  propose  to  argue.  I  do  not  think  it  would, 
but  very  many  reasons  might  be  given  in  support  of  the  doc 
trine.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  we  do  not  mean  to  adopt 
it.  We  mean  to  continue  what  we  have  done  in  the  past  to 
protect  our  domestic  industries.  Then  the  question  in  rela 
tion  to  every  article  of  domestic  industry  is,  what  protection 
does  it  need,  if  it  be  an  industry  of  interest  to  the  country. 

During  the  session,  he  spoke  several  times  on  District 
of  Columbia  matters.38  He  denied  the  right  of  Con 
gress39  to  charter  a  corporation  in  the  District,  with 
right  to  have  an  office  and  hold  meetings  in  a  State 
without  its  consent.  On  another  local  matter,  his  last 
senatorial  speech  was  made,  advocating40  an  appropri 
ation  of  $7000  for  the  Mt.  Vernon  Association,  as  the 
government  during  the  war  had  seized  the  steamer 
which  plied  to  Mt.  Vernon  and  so  the  Association  lost 
revenue.  It  was  important  to  prevent  the  catastrophe 
of  Washington's  house  going  to  ruin.  Johnson  felt  the 
place  was  properly  in  the  hands  of  women,  through 
their  sympathies. 

All  sorts  of  miscellaneous  subjects  were  dealt  with  in 
his  speeches.  The  stationery  room  needed  investiga 
tion.41  It  was  better  to  run  the  risk  of  abuse  and  permit 
the  President  to  send  secret  agents  abroad  unofficially, 
than  to  require  their  nomination  to  the  Senate.42  The 
"great  measure"  passed  in  1862  for  the  building  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  was  passed  in  pursuance  of  a 

38  On  December  20,  he  advocated  paying  certain  claims  in  reference  to  the 
District  jail.    On  February  12,  when  the  case  of  negroes  ejected  from  a  Wash 
ington  street  car  came  up,  he  said  he  travelled  often  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  and  had  been  counsel  of  the  company  ever  since  its  organiza 
tion,  but  never  heard  of  such  wrongs  being  done  on  it.     On  April  7,  he  objected 
to  assessments  for  public  improvements  in  Washington. 

39  On  January  31. 

40  On  July  6;  the  bill  passed  on  the  ninth. 

41  On  December  19. 

42  On  January  30. 


228  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

"wise  and  enlarged  policy"  and  constituted  a  ''national 
undertaking,  pregnant  with  national  benefit,"  which 
private  wealth  could  not  accomplish.  The  Central 
Branch  of  the  railroad  should  be  completed43  and  will 
help  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  and  other  cities,  while  it 
will  also  gain  for  us  the  India  and  China  trade,  which 
made  England  and  will  make  us.44  The  naval  pension 
trust  fund  of  1800  should  be  preserved.45  Marine  hos 
pitals  are  constitutional  under  the  commerce  clause46  and 
should  be  established  on  inland  waters.  An  appro 
priation  should  be  made  for  a  copyright  library  in  the 
Department  of  the  Interior.47  Officers  of  the  army  may 
be  allowed  to  bet,  if  they  stake  their  own  money,  and 
it  is  sufficient48  to  prohibit  betting  by  those  who  are 
intrusted  with  public  funds.  Congress  alone  may  pre 
scribe  rules  and  regulations  for  the  army49  and  cannot 
delegate  this  power  to  the  President.  The  newspapers 
cause  all  men  to  form  impressions  on  criminal  cases, 
but  a  man  should  be  allowed  to  serve  as  a  juror50  who 
has  formed  an  impression,  but  who  swears,  to  the  satis 
faction  of  the  court,  that  he  will  be  able  to  render  a 
fair  verdict.  There  is  no  greater  disposition  to  appoint 
to  office  on  party  grounds,  than  there  was  for  twenty 
years  past. 

The  system  commenced  as  a  dangerous  one,  a  mischievous 
one,  ....  in  the  days  of  General  Jackson,  .... 
and  will  be  continued  ....  until  healthier  sentiment 

43  On  March  16. 

44  The  time  in  which  railroads  (on  May  18)  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  were 
to  be  constructed  should  be  extended,  so  that  they  may  not  lose  the  land  grant. 

45  On  March  7. 

46  On  June  29. 

47  On  July  i. 
46  On  June  29. 

49  On  June  29 

50  On  April  8. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  22Q 

governs  the  country.51  The  Senate  should  not  consider  nomi 
nations  to  petty  offices,  such  as  those  in  the  navy  yards,  for 
to  do  so  would  take  up  its  whole  time  and  unfit  the  body  for 
its  "  constitutional  functions." 

Johnson  spoke  on  diplomatic  affairs,  advocating  that 
a  minister  be  sent  to  Ecuador,  to  the  intent  that  we 
may  prevent  South  American  commerce  falling  into  the 
hands  of  England  and  France,52  and  insisting  upon  the 
need  of  a  second  assistant  secretary  of  state.53  Early 
in  the  session54  speaking  in  opposition  to  recognition  as 
belligerents  of  the  Abyssinians  who  were  at  war  with 
England,  he  declared  that  the  only  result  of  the  resolves 
would  be  to  induce  some  of  our  people  to  take  the 
Abyssinian  flag  and  prey  on  English  commerce,  which 
might  lead  to  war  between  us  and  Great  Britain,  thus 
enormously  increasing  the  debt.  He  could  imagine  no 
greater  calamity  to  human  liberty  and  to  the  two  coun 
tries  than  war  between  them.  Without  calling  into 
question  the  right  of  the  British  government  to  recog 
nize  the  Confederates  as  belligerents,  the  act  had  been 
a  "gross  error,"  unkind  to  America,  and  it  would  have 
been  almost  suicidal  to  Great  Britain,  if  she  had  accom 
plished  the  division  of  the  United  States.  England  had 
violated  her  neutrality  in  permitting  the  cruisers,  espe 
cially  the  Alabama,  to  go  out.  Russell  was  especially 
unfriendly  and  even  yet  delays  a  settlement.  "England 
owes  it,  not  only  to  us,  but  to  her  own  honor,  to  pay 
every  dollar  of  the  losses  which  American  citizens  sus- 

51  On  March  2  7. 

52  On  March  10. 

53  On  June  22,  he  also  defended  Hunter,  the  veteran  holder  of  the  office 
of  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  and  urged  the  appointment  of  an  examiner  of 
claims  for  that  department.     On  March  13,  he  had  advocated  the  payment  of 
the  claim  of  the  heirs  of  Asbury  Dickins,  who  had  acted  as  Secretary  of  Treasury 
and  of  State,  while  chief  clerk. 

54  On  December  19. 


23O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

tained,  in  consequence  of  the  cruise"  of  the  Alabama. 
Our  claims  should  be  arbitrated,  but  the  question  of 
belligerency  is  not  necessarily  connected  with  them. 
If  we  recognize  the  Abyssinians  as  belligerents,  our  act 
may  jeopardize  our  Alabama  claims.  Our  relations  with 
Great  Britain  are  now  friendly  and  we  should  not  re 
taliate  upon  her,  when  she  apparently  regrets  her  past 
conduct.  "Peace  between  the  two  is  the  interest  of 
humanity.  Peace  between  the  two  is  in  the  interest 
of  constitutional  freedom."  Such  strong  and  wise  words 
on  so  important  a  subject  naturally  made  men  feel  that 
Johnson  could  be  trusted  with  our  interests  in  London, 
especially  after  it  became  evident  that  he  would  not 
be  reflected  to  the  Senate,  on  account  of  his  votes  in 
March,  1867,  for  the  reconstruction  programme.55  In 
speaking  upon  the  rights  of  naturalized  citizens,56  John 
son  said 

This  government  never  can  permit  her  naturalized  citizens 
to  be  punished  by  England,  or  Germany,  or  any  other  nation, 
for  acts  which,  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  they  had  a  right 
to  perform. 

If  England  would  not  admit  the  doctrine  of  alienable 
allegiance,  "it  would  form  just  cause  for  war,"  which 
he  hoped  might  not  happen. 

In  the  summer  of  1868,  Charles  Francis  Adams  re 
turned  from  England  to  the  United  States  and  the 
President  offered  Reverdy  Johnson57  the  vacant  post  of 

65  Vide  letter  of  James  Touchstone  to  A.  W.  Bradford,  who  had  urged  re 
election,  January  8,  1868.  The  Bradford  papers  were  used  through  the 
courtesy  of  Gov.  Bradford's  son,  Mr.  Samuel  W.  Bradford,  of  Bel  Air. 

56  On  December  19. 

57  George  B.  McClellan  was  first  named  and  was  rejected.    Vide  12  Harper's 
Weekly  42  (July  4,  1868)  for  picture  and  sketch  of  Johnson  with  reference  to 
the  English  appointment.    The  nomination  is  there  called  "judicious." 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  23! 

minister  to  Great  Britain.  The  offer  was  accepted,  a 
unanimous  confirmation  by  the  Senate  followed  on  June 
12,  and,  on  July  9,  Johnson  rose  in  the  chamber  and, 
overpowered  by  his  feelings,  asked  Vickers,  his  colleague, 
to  read  his  farewell  address.  He  retired,  with  the  " deep 
est  regret  and  with  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the  kind 
nesses  received  from  his  fellow  members."  He  went  to 
London,  "influenced  by  a  sincere  wish  to  secure  to  both 
governments,  an  adjustment,  honorable  to  both,"  of  the 
difficulties  existing  between  them.  The  Congressional 
Globe  contains  a  remarkable  note,  stating  that,  at  the 
close  of  the  valedictory,  the  Senators  rose,  simultaneously, 
and  grasped  Johnson's  hand  in  turn,  to  wish  him  suc 
cess.58  He  had  not  overstated  the  facts  in  saying  that 
he  had  "  contracted  friendships,  which  have  been  a  con 
stant  source  of  pleasure  and  which  I  shall  ever  value. 
I  cannot  retire  without  the  deepest  regret."  In  the 
important  period  in  which  he  had  served,  "  although 
differing  widely  in  regard  to  most"  subjects  "with  a 
majority  of  the  Senate  and  supporting  my  opinons  with 
earnestness,  it  will  always  be  a  great  gratification  to  me 
to  remember  that,  at  all  times,  by  every  member,  I 
was  treated  with  uniform  courtesy  and,  I  need  hardly 
say,  Mr.  President,  that  such  courtesy  I  never  failed 
most  gladly  to  reciprocate."  He  was  going  to  Great 
Britain  looking  "with  hope  to  the  approval  of  my  asso 
ciates.  They  will  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that  I 
have  been  governed  throughout  by  an  earnest  desire 
to  maintain  all  the  rights  and  promote  the  interests  of 
our  beloved  country."  He  should  "never  cease  grate 
fully  to  remember  the  kindnesses  evinced  for  me  in  this 

»a  At  Johnson's  suggestion,  the  Governor  of  Maryland  named  William 
Pinkney  White  as  his  successor.  The  formal  resignation  to  the  Governor  of 
Maryland  was  filed  with  the  Senate  on  July  10. 


232  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

chamber"  and,  gazing  into  the  future,  felt  that,  with 
unity  of  government,  "imagination  itself  will  be  at  a 
loss  adequately  to  conceive  the  future  greatness  of  our 
land." 

In  Mr.  Elaine's  words,  Johnson  "  carried  with  him 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens.  Ap 
pointed  directly  after  the  impeachment  trial  of  Presi 
dent  Johnson,  he  was  among  the  few  statesmen  of  the 
Democratic  party  who  could  have  secured  the  ready 
confirmation  of  the  Senate,  for  a  mission  which  demanded 
in  its  incumbent  a  talent  for  diplomacy  and  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  international  law."59 

59  2  Elaine's  Twenty  Years,  489. 


CHAPTER  VII 
MINISTER  TO  ENGLAND  (1868-69) 

Johnson's  selection  as  Minister  to  England  was  well 
received,  Harper's  Weekly1  said: 

He  fully  agrees  with  the  views  of  the  government  on  the 
intricate  questions  with  England  and  will  probably  pursue, 
under  the  same  policy  and  general  instructions,  the  work  so 
well  conducted  heretofore  by  Mr.  Adams. 

The  President  might  have  nominated  ' '  an  agent  more 
acceptable,"  as  to  political  principles,  "  to  the  Senate 
and  country,  but  hardly  one  of  greater  ability,  or  higher 
character"  than  Johnson.  Once  A  Week2  thought  the 
appointment  to  be  of  the  "happiest  augury  for  the 
friendship  of  the  two  countries.  When  speaking  in  the 
Senate — as  he  often  did — on  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States,  his  tone  was  ever  one  of  moderation  and 
of  conciliation."3 

1  Vol.  12,  p.  42,  July  4,  1868,  with  picture  of  Johnson  and  sketch. 

2  October  31,  1868,  vol.  2,  p.  351. 

3  The  article  bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  his  "public  and  private  character 
is  without  a  blemish"  and  his  "abilities  have  been  sincerely  used  in  aid  of 
honest  convictions."    His  later  years  had  been  "spent  in  unceasing  efforts  to 
benefit  his  country  and  to  soften  the  bitterness  which  had  gradually  grown  up 

between  the  two  sections The  lucidity  and  penetrating  quality 

of  his  mind,  his  great  experience,  his  intimate  knowledge,  no  less  of  the  lore 
and  general  spirit,  than  of  the  details  of  the  law,  the  clear  and  forcible  manner 
in  which  he  seized  and  urged  his  points,  the  intellectual  strength  which  he 
always  displayed  in  grasping  the  whole  scope  of  his  case,  gave  him  advantages 
possessed  by  very  few,  if  any,  of  his  professional  competitors."    In  the  Senate, 
"he  shone  forth,  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  orators  of  that  body,  nobly  sus 
taining  the  cause  of  the  Union,  heartily  voting  the  war  supplies,  advocating 
the  extinction  of  treason,  and  lending  all  the  strength  of  his  marked  abilities 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  land." 

233 


234  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Johnson  made  a  speech  at  the  North  Western  Saenger- 
bund  festival  at  Schuetzen  Park  in  Baltimore4  on  July 
14  and,  on  the  next  day,  a  complimentary  banquet  was 
tendered  him  at  the  Eutaw  House.5  Five  days  after 
ward,  Secretary  Seward  gave  Johnson  his  instructions, 
which  emphasized  the  importance  of  friendly  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  England  and  stated  that 
the  most  important  question  requiring  attention  was 
the  recognition  of  the  alienability  of  allegiance,  so  that 
our  naturalized  Irishmen  might  visit  England  and  be 
treated  as  Americans.  We  had  been  neutral  during  the 
Fenian  troubles,  with  much  difficulty  and  inconvenience, 
and  felt  that  we  had  the  right  to  insist  on  this  conces 
sion.  The  location  of  the  boundary  line  in  Puget  Sound 
was  also  to  be  considered  and,  if  Great  Britain  makes 
satisfactory  agreement  as  to  these  points,  Johnson  should 
advert  to  the  "subject  of  mutual  claims  of  citizens  and 
subjects  of  the  two  countries  against  the  government  of 
each  other,  respectively."  In  other  words,  he  was  to 
sound  Stanley,  the  English  foreign  secretary,  as  to  his 
willingness  to  have  the  Alabama  claims  referred  to  a 
joint  commission  like  that  of  1853,  although  the  United 
States  should  not  be  distinctly  committed  to  such  a 
proposition.6 

Sumner,  who  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  wrote  the  Duchess  of  Argyll  on  July  28 : 

Reverdy  Johnson  came  to  see  me  last  evening.7  He  will 
begin  on  the  naturalization  question  and  has  every  reason  to 

4  Scharf ,  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  p.  676. 

5  A.  W.  Bradford  papers. 

6  The  dispatches,  etc.,  passing  between  Seward  and  Johnson  are  found  in 
I  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  4oth  Congress,  3rd  Session,  pp.  328,  347  to  441. 
An  incredible  story  as  to  Johnson's  ignorance  of  English  history  may  be  found 
in  10  Cent.  L.  J.  106. 

7  4  Pierce's  Sumner,  359. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  235 

believe  that  it  will  be  settled  harmoniously.  He  is  more  truly 
a  lawyer,  than  any  person  sent  by  the  United  States,  except 
perhaps  Pinkney.  He  is  essentially  pacific  and  detests  the 
idea  of  war  or  wrangle  with  England.  On  this  account,  I  am 
sorry  to  lose  him  from  my  Committee  in  the  Senate. 

Sumner's  biography  states  that  Sumner  had  thought 
"our  interests  in  England  were  too  important  to  be 
hazarded  on  a  compromise  and  preferred  to  have  the 
post  vacant;"  but,  when  he  found  the  majority  of  the 
Senate  were  not  inclined  to  this  view,  he  thought  that 
the  next  best  thing  was  to  avoid  a  contest,  so  that 
Johnson  might  feel  an  obligation  to  the  Republican 
majority.8 

He  was  thought  to  be  a  better  person  for  the  post  than  any 
other  the  President  was  likely  to  name,  he  had  shown  him 
self,  on  the  foreign  relations  committee,  uniformly  conservative 
and  wise;  he  had  risen  above  his  surroundings  in  his  support 
of  the  Fourteenth  Constitutional  Amendment,  he  was  very 
amiable  with  his  associates  of  both  parties  in  the  Senate,  and 
there  was  a  general  disposition  to  give  him  the  compliment  of 
the  brief  term  of  service  which  remained  under  the  present 
administration. 

This  statement  shows  where  Sumner  stood  in  refer 
ence  to  Johnson.  From  the  same  authority,  we  learn 
that  Johnson  had  not  waited  to  call  on  Sumner,  until 
he  was  on  the  eve  of  sailing,  but  had  gone  there  the  day 
after  the  confirmation  of  his  appointment  and  had 
thanked  Sumner  warmly  for  the  unanimous  action  of 
the  Senate. 

In  their  conversations,  naturalization  and  the  ques 
tion  of  San  Juan  Island  in  Puget  Sound  were  discussed. 
No  reference  was  made  to  the  Alabama  claims,  which 

8  4  Pierce's  Sumner,  383. 


236  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Sumner  supposed  would  not  be  considered  by  Johnson, 
but  would  go  over  to  the  next  administration.  In  spite 
of  his  outward  friendliness,  Sumner  gave  Johnson  no 
letters  of  introduction  in  England. 

Johnson  arrived  in  England  in  August,  charged  by 
Seward  with  the  commission  to  negotiate  three  treaties, 
viz. :  recognizing  our  right  to  naturalize  those  who  had 
been  born  British  subjects,  defining  the  boundary  be 
tween  Vancouver's  Island  and  the  United  States  with 
special  reference  to  San  Juan  Island;  and  arranging  for 
an  adjustment  of  the  claims  arising  out  of  Great  Britain's 
alleged  failure  to  assume  a  proper  neutral  position  during 
the  Civil  War,  the  so-called  Alabama  claims. 

From  his  first  arrival,  Johnson  received  the  warmest 
possible  welcome.  An  English  magazine  said  that  his 
appointment  was  "of  the  happiest  augury  for  the  friend 
ship  of  the  countries"  and  quoted  with  approval  his 
statement  that  he  came,  "hoping  to  be  the  envoy  of 
peace  and  good  will,  and  more,  of  friendship  and  cordial 
cooperation,  in  the  progress  of  the  race."  It  was  said 
that  his  reception  was  "worthy  of  the  distinguished 
statesman,  high-souled  gentleman  and  accomplished 
scholar  that  he  is."  On  August  18,  Johnson  was  in 
London  and  sent  a  copy  of  his  credentials  and  a  note  to 
Lord  Stanley  asking  for  an  audience.  The  reply  was 
made  that  Stanley  was  on  the  Continent  with  the  Queen 
and  would  not  return  until  the  middle  of  September. 
While  waiting  for  this,  Johnson  visited  Disraeli,  the 
Prime  Minister,  at  Hughenden  Manor,  his  country  seat 
in  Buckinghamshire,  and  met  the  Lord  Chancellor  and 
others  of  the  House  of  Lords.  He  wrote  Seward,  on 
August  29,  that  nothing  of  a  political  character  was 
discussed,  but  the  friendly  feeling  shown  had  made  him 
hopeful.  Lord  Stanley  returned  to  England  and  John- 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  237 

son  met  him  on  the  tenth  of  September.  They  talked 
together,  very  satisfactorily,  for  more  than  half  an  hour, 
speaking  of  the  subjects  in  dispute,  in  general  and  frank 
terms.  On  September  12,  Johnson  wrote  Seward  of  this 
conversation  and  stated  that  he  would  endeavor  to  show 
Lord  Stanley  that  Parliamentary  action  would  not  be 
necessary  on  the  matter  of  naturalization,  so  as  to  avoid 
the  delay  incident  to  the  passage  of  an  act.  As  to  the 
other  matters,  Johnson  was  ''convinced  there  will  be 
no  serious  difficulty,"  and  asked  that  he  might  go  on 
with  the  other  questions,  without  waiting  for  the  con 
clusion  of  the  naturalization  treaty,  if  there  was  delay 
therein.9  Johnson  fyad  an  audience  with  Queen  Victoria, 
September  14,  when  she  spoke  in  "very  friendly  terms." 
On  the  twenty-fifth  he  saw  Stanley,  with  such  satisfac 
tory  results,  that  he  was  hopeful  of  agreeing,  in  a  week 
or  two,  to  a  protocol  of  a  treaty  of  naturalization,  which 
will  settle  matters,  as  far  as  possible,  previous  to  legis 
lation  which  cannot  be  expected  before  spring.  On 
October  7,  he  wrote  Seward  that  he  and  Stanley10  had 
nearly  agreed  on  the  protocol  and  that  he  continued  to 
"receive  the  strongest  evidence  from  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  government,  as  well  as  Lord  Stanley  and 
from  the  English  public  generally,  of  the  friendly  feel 
ing  entertained  by  them  all  for  the  government  and 
citizens  of  the  United  States  and  I,  therefore,  entertain 
no  doubt  that  all  matters  now  in  controversy  will  soon 
be  satisfactorily  arranged."  Two  days  later,  he  cabled 
news  of  the  signing  of  the  protocol  and  wrote  that  the 
document  "shows  that  the  government  does  not  hold, 

9  He  was  also  trying  to  secure  the  release  of  two  Fenians,  Warren  and  Cos- 
tello,  and  was  hopeful  of  success. 

10  Johnson  steadily  felt  (Despatch  of  February  17  to  Seward)  that  Stanley 
was  as  "anxious"  for  the  settlement  of  all  difficulties,  "as  I  was." 


238  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

but,  on  the  contrary  expressly  renounces,  the  principle 
of  alienable  allegiance  and  admits  the  right  of  expatria 
tion."  He  was  assured,  both  by  the  present  government 
and  also  by  the  Liberals,  "who  may  possibly  succeed 
them,"  that  Parliament  would  pass  the  desired  act. 

Meanwhile  Seward,  sanguine  of  success,  had  written 
him11  on  September  23. 

In  event  that  you  become  convinced  that  an  arrangement 
of  the  naturalization  question,  which  would  be  satisfactory  to 
the  United  States,  ....  can  be  made,  .... 
you  may  open  concurrent  negotiations  upon  the  two  questions 
but  that  these  negotiations  shall  not  be  com 
pleted,  nor  your  proceedings  deemed  obligatory,  until  after  the 
naturalization  question  shall  have  been  satisfactorily  settled, 
by  treaty  or  by  law  of  Parliament,  since  the  United  States 
must  negotiate  with  proper  deference  and  respect  to  the  state 
of  opinion  which  prevails  in  the  Senate,  in  Congress,  and  among 
the  people.  Without  a  satisfactory  naturalization  treaty,  the 
Senate  might  "  reject  even  the  very  arrangement,  which  other 
wise  might  have  proved  satisfactory,  in  regards  to  the  San 
Juan  and  claims  questions.  It  was  desirable  that  the  new 
administrations  of  the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain 
should  find  themselves  relieved  of  all  the  international  ques 
tions,  which,  although  they  are  not  intrinsically  difficult,  have, 
nevertheless,  so  long  and  so  painfully  embarrassed  both  nations. 

So  wrote  Seward  to  Johnson  and  the  latter  replied 
on  October  9,  that  he  would  next  proceed  on  the  San 
Juan  question  and  expected  to  discuss  it  with  Lord 
Stanley  on  the  sixteenth.  So  speedily  did  they  agree 
on  this  point  that,  on  the  seventeenth,  Johnson  wrote 
that  he  had  just  signed  a  protocol  for  settling  the  San 

11  On  September  22,  Sumner  wrote  Bemis:  "Seward  is  sanguine  and  Johnson 
writes  that  he  shall  settle  everything.  Nothing  just  yet,  but  everything  very 
soon.  The  naturalization  treaty  comes  first.  Seward  then  expects  a  com 
mission  to  hear  and  determine  everything"  (4  Pierce's  Sumner,  371). 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  239 

Juan  boundary  controversy  by  arbitration,  the  conven 
tion  not  to  go  into  effect  until  the  naturalization  question 
be  settled. 

On  the  question  of  the  Alabama  claims,  Johnson  set 
to  work  at  once  and,  on  October  20,  cabled  Seward,  in 
cipher,  a  request  to  be  allowed  to  sign  a  convention,  on 
the  basis  of  the  treaty  of  February,,  1853,  leaving  the 
questions  to  the  King  of  Prussia  as  arbiter.  Seward 
was  out  of  Washington,  but  Hunter,  the  Assistant  Sec 
retary  of  State,  submitted  the  dispatch  to  a  cabinet 
meeting,  on  the  day  on  which  it  was  sent.12  Four  days 
later,  Seward  replied  by  cable  that  Johnson  should  insist 
on  a  convention  like  that  of  1853,  without  naming  an 
arbiter.  Seward  cabled  again,  on  the  next  day,  that 
the  naturalization  protocol  was  approved:  "Can  you 
hasten  the  claims  convention?"  A  day  later,  he  trans 
mitted  by  cable  the  President's  commendation  for  John 
son's  diligence  in  the  naturalization  matter.  Johnson's 
interview  with  Lord  Stanley,  on  October  29,  was  so 
satisfactory  that  he  sent  Seward  word  that  he  expected 
to  sign  a  convention  as  instructed,  within  a  week,  and 
that  he  hoped  that  the  President's  message  to  Congress 
in  December  may  communicate  a  satisfactory  adjust 
ment  of  all  matters  which  "weaken  the  friendly  rela 
tions"  of  the  two  countries.  Meanwhile,  the  presiden 
tial  election  occurred,  with  its  great  majority  for  Grant, 
and  Seward  feared  the  "claims  protocol  will  meet  oppo 
sition."13  Johnson  had  pushed  forward  so  vigorously 
that  he  was  able  to  notify  Seward,  on  November  10, 
that  he  had  signed  a  convention  "for  settlement  of  all 

u  3  Welles'  Diary,  459- 

13  He  called,  on  November  7,  to  have  the  President  of  Switzerland  named  as 
arbitrator.  On  November  7,  Johnson  sent  a  hopeful  message  as  to  the  Claims 
Convention  and,  on  the  loth,  reported  an  amendment  of  the  San  Juan  protocol 


240  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

the  claims  that  the  citizens  of  either  country  may  have 
against"  the  other.  "What  are  known  as  the  Alabama 
claims  are,  of  course,  embraced  by  it."  The  question  of 
the  recognition  of  belligerency  was  included  and  the 
convention  was  to  sit  in  London,  as  most  of  the  evi 
dence  was  in  Liverpool.  Seward  did  not  like  this  ar 
rangement  as  to  location  and  insisted,  by  a  cable  dis 
patch,  that  the  convention  sit  in  Washington.  Johnson 
replied,  on  November  12,  that  he  would  try  to  obtain 
the  change,  though  it  would  cause  delay  to  hold  the 
sessions  in  Washington,  as  the  proof  was  in  England. 
He  had  not  understood  that  the  place  of  the  convention's 
session  was  important,  as  a  dispatch  sent  to  Adams, 
while  he  w^as  minister,  had  stated  that  this  was  a  matter 
not  to  be  insisted  on.  Seward  cabled  an  immediate 
reply  that,  in  view  of  the  "  highly  disturbed  national 
sensibilities,"  the  naming  of  Washington  was  "indispen 
sable."  As  Lord  Stanley  was  absent  from  London  for 
a  few  days,  Johnson  could  not  act  immediately,  but,  on 
the  sixteenth,  he  replied  that  he  was  hopeful  of  success 
and,  on  the  twenty-third,  sent  Seward  word  that  the 
British  ministry  had  agreed  to  Washington  and  the 
"people  of  all  classes,  especially  the  opposition  leaders, 
wish  a  satisfactory  solution"  of  the  difficulties.  On  the 
next  day,  Johnson  cabled  a  request  to  make  the  San 
Juan  protocol  a  convention  and  was  surprised  to  receive 
an  instant  reply  that  that  question  may  rest  for  the 
moment  and  that  the  claims  agreement,  "unless  amend 
ed,  is  useless."  The  protocol  provided  that  all  claims 
should  be  submitted  to  an  arbitration  of  four  commis 
sioners,  two  from  each  party  and,  if  they  could  not 
agree,  the  points  of  dispute  should  be  submitted  to  some 
sovereign  as  umpire.  Seward  took  the  dispatch  to  the 
cabinet  meeting  and  told  Secretary  Welles,  of  the  Navy, 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  24! 

that  he  was  sick,  for  he  "had  got  the  daonnedest  strange 
thing  from  Reverdy  Johnson  for  a  protocol."  He  sub 
mitted  it  to  the  cabinet,  with  a  "lugubrious  look,"  and 
said  that  the  whole  thing  was  contrary  to  his  instruc 
tions  and  must  be  sent  back.  The  members  present 
were  surprised,  but  did  not  inquire  into  the  points  of 
difference  and  Welles  recorded,  in  his  Diary,  that  he  did 
not  believe  in  a  speedy  settlement  of  the  difficulties  with 
England.14  Seward  sent  Johnson  his  views,  in  a  long 
cablegram  on  November  27,  stating  that  he  was  willing 
to  accept  a  convention  like  that  of  1853,  pure  and  simple, 
but  that  the  one  which  Johnson  had  submitted  was 
unacceptable,  as  it  did  not  put  the  Alabama  claims  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  others,  though  they  constituted 
the  largest  and  most  material  part  of  the  American 
claims.  If  Lord  Stanley  be  offended,  Johnson  should 
explain  matters  to  him.  If  he  accepts  Seward's  amend 
ments,  Johnson  may  sign  a  protocol  as  to  the  claims 
and  convert  the  San  Juan  protocol  into  a  convention. 
Johnson  replied  to  Seward  that  he  could  not  under 
stand  the  validity  of  the  objections  and  that  Lord 
Stanley  would  not15  yield  to  Seward's  requirement  that 
a  foreign  arbitrator  be  appointed;  but  that  he  hoped 
that  the  new  liberal  government,  which  was  about  to 
assume  office  would  be  more  satisfactory.  Lord  Claren 
don  would  hold  the  foreign  office  and  Johnson,  who 
thought  he  entertained  sincere  friendship  for  the  United 
States,  intended  to  renew  negotiations  with  him,  as 
soon  as  possible.16  Johnson  was  as  good  as  his  word 
and,  on  December  16,  apprised  Seward  that  he  had  met 

"  3  Welles  Diary,  468. 

15  Cables  of  November  28  and  December  5. 

16  On  December  14,  Seward  wrote  that  the  views  previously  given  are  en 
tirely  in  accordance  with  the  expectations  of  the  country. 


242  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Clarendon  and  hoped  to  conclude  a  satisfactory  arrange 
ment.  Two  days  later,  Johnson  spoke  of  a  new  arrange 
ment  in  which,  if  the  commissioners  can  not  agree  and 
think  there  should  be  a  friendly  government  as  arbi 
trator,  they  shall  report  to  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,which  nations  shall  select  one  within  three  months. 
Just  before  Christmas,  Johnson  informed  Seward  that 
Clarendon  refused  to  make  the  agreement  in  the  form  of 
a  protocol  and  insisted  on  signing  the  convention  in  Lon 
don.17  Seward  suggested  minor  amendments  to  John 
son,  on  January  n,  and  said  that,  if  these  were  made, 
the  residue  was  satisfactory  and  signature  could  be 
made,  either  in  Washington  or  London,  so  that  the 
convention  might  go  to  the  Senate  at  once.  The  same 
directions  were  given  as  to  the  San  Juan  convention.18 
Clarendon  agreed  to  Seward's  requests  and,  on  January 
14,  Johnson  was  able  to  cable  that  the  conventions  were 
signed  as  directed.  In  a  letter  which  followed  the  dis 
patch,  Johnson  wrote  that  he  takes  it  for  granted  that 
the  treaty  will  meet  the  approval  of  the  President  and 
the  Senate.  Great  Britain  had  yielded  two  grounds 
asserted  previously,  for  they  now  agree  to  refer  to  arbitra 
tion  our  demand  and  also  the  right  of  Great  Britain  to 
recognize  the  Confederate  States  as  belligerents,  "I  have 
reason  to  believe,"  Johnson  added,  "that  the  abandon 
ment  of  the  grounds  originally  taken,  to  which  I  have 
referred,  has  been  due,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  growing 
friendly  feeling  for  the  United  States,  which  has  been 
so  strongly  exhibited  since  my  arrival  in  this  country. 
Anticipating  that  that  would  be  its  effect,  I  determined 
to  lose  no  time  in  cultivating  such  a  feeling,  whilst  never 
forgetting  scrupulously,  to  regard  the  rights  and  honor 

17  Vide  dispatches  of  December  23  and  24. 

18  Vide  also  dispatches  of  January  12  and  13. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  243 

of  my  country.  This  has  been  my  sole  motive  in  the 
speeches,  which  I  have  delivered  since  reaching  Eng 
land."  The  Alabama  claims  were  especially  named  in 
the  treaty,  which  provided  for  the  appointment  of  two 
commissioners  by  each  government,  who  should  meet 
at  Washington  and  name  an  arbitrator.  If  they  can 
not  agree  on  one,  he  is  to  be  selected  by  lot.  If 
two  or  more  of  the  commissioners  prefer  a  friendly 
sovereign,  they  must  report  to  their  governments,  who 
shall  choose  one  within  six  months. 

Johnson  had  done  much  to  establish  an  entente  cordial. 
In  a  speech  at  Leeds,  for  example,  Johnson  assured  the 
English  that  the  Americans  looked  on  them  as  brothers 
and  that  a  war  between  countries  so  united  would  be 
as  bad  as  the  Civil  War.  He  stated  that  he  was  struck 
with  the  similarity  of  the  political  institutions  and  had 
come  with  full  power  and  with  every  disposition  to 
settle  all  outstanding  disputes.  Even  the  hostile  Satur 
day  Review  admitted,19  in  commenting  upon  this  speech, 
that  the  English  had  done  wrong  and  that  Johnson  had 
an  opportunity  to  accomplish  definite  results,  but  his 
courtesy,  his  pacific  disposition,  and  his  dislike  to  quarrel 
with  men  had,  undoubtedly,  led  him  too  far.20  On  Sep 
tember  24,  at  the  Cutlers'  banquet  at  Sheffield,  Johnson 
was  a  guest  and  spoke  of  "ties,  stronger  than  links  of 
iron,  which  bound  the  two  nations."  He  was  followed 
by  Mr.  Roebuck,  a  member  of  Parliament,  who  had 
sympathized  with  the  Confederates  and  who  spoke  of 
the  "monopoly  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
by  the  buccaneering  element,"  and  the  exclusion  of  edu- 

19  Vol.  26,  p.  414. 

20  Rhodes  (6  History  of  United  States,  334)  remarks  that,  in  after  dinner 
speeches,  Johnson  "spoke,  in  effusive  terms,  of  the  friendly  sentiments  that 
should  obtain  between  peoples  of  the  same  race,  speaking  the  same  language 
and  reading  the  same  literature." 


244  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

cated  men  from  public  life.21  The  Nation,22  which  was 
friendly  neither  to  Johnson  nor  the  administration, 
praised  him  for  saying  nothing  in  reply  at  the  time  and 
for  correcting  Roebuck's  "absurdities  in  perfectly  calm 
and  temperate  language,"23  when  replying  to  an  address 
on  the  following  day.  He  said  in  his  reply: 

If  either  country  wrongs24  the  other,  or  suffers  the  other  to 
be  wronged,  when  it  could  have  prevented  it,  it  should  not  hesi 
tate,  when  convinced  of  the  error,  to  redress  the  consequences 
which  may  have  resulted  from  it  and  I  have  so  much  confidence 
in  the  enlightened  judgment  of  your  government  and  its  love 
of  justice  and  I  have  like  confidence  in  my  own,  that  I  feel 
convinced,  if  either  commits  a  wrong,  it  will,  when  satisfied 
of  it,  confess  it  and  do  whatever  may  be  necessary  to  redress 
it.25 

The  Times  severely  criticised  Roebuck  for  his  discour 
tesy26  and  Johnson  came  out  of  the  encounter  with  prob 
ably  increased  popularity  in  England.  In  America  also, 
he  had  not  lost  much  ground.  Harper's  Weekly,  it  is 
true,  commented  on  "Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson's  Indis 
cretions,"  but  the  Nation,27  while  feeling  that  "decency 
does  require  that  he  should  hold  aloof  from  persons 
opposed  to  the  United  States,"  added  that  he  should 

21  Rhodes  censures  Johnson  rather  harshly  for  going  to  the  dinner,  after  he 
knew  Roebuck  was  to  be  present. 

22  Vol.  7,  p.  242. 

23  Rhodes,  not  realizing  the  habitual  use  of  the  courteous  phrase  "my  friend" 
by  Johnson,  objects  to  his  using  it  in  reference  to  Roebuck  in  the  reply. 

24  Vide  dispatch  of  February  17  to  Seward. 

26  The  answer  was  published,  Johnson  wrote,  "with  approbation,  by  almost 
the  entire  press." 

26  Rhodes  casts  it  up  against  Johnson  that  Roebuck  wrote  the  Times  that 
Johnson  "has  given  me  every  assurance  that  he  felt  greatly  pleased  by  all 
that  had  happened  since  his  arrival  here  and  to  myself,  personally,  he  used 
expressions  of  kindness  and  friendship,  which  touched  me  very  nearly." 

27  October  i,  vol.  7,  p.  266. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  245 

not  be  condemned  too  strongly,  till  it  were  known 
whether,  "behind  his  fair  words,  there  is  any  real  con 
cession  on  the  subject  of  the  rights  of  the  country." 
A  month  later,  a  banquet  was  given  to  him  in  Liverpool, 
at  which  Lord  Stanley  and  Gladstone  both  spoke  and 
at  which  Johnson  made  a  more  serious  mistake,  by  shak 
ing  hands  with  Mr.  Laird,  the  builder  of  the  Alabama. 
It  is  true  that  Laird  was  the  representative  in  Parlia 
ment  of  Birkenhead  and  part  of  Liverpool,  but  his  act 
led  the  Nation  to  say  that  Johnson's  "performances 
make  the  judicious  of  all  parties  grieve  deeply."  To 
the  American  people,  he  appeared  to  talk  too  much  and 
to  fraternize  with  "notorious  enemies  and  revilers  of 
the  United  States."28  The  feeling  was  strong  that  he 
had  "disgraced  his  government"29  by  persisting  in  his 
"foolish  courses."  ^Welles  wrote  in  his  Diary  on  Decem 
ber  2 1,30  that  Johnson  "is  doing  neither  himself,  nor  the 
country,  credit  in  England.  By  last  accounts,  he  was 
corresponding  and  dining  with  Laird.  There  is  in  much 
of  his  conduct,  and  especially  in  this,  a  degree  of  ser 
vility  that  is  disgusting."  Undoubtedly  Rhodes  is  cor 
rect  in  thinking  that,  in  the  United  States,  Johnson's 
actions  "injured  his  standing  and  impaired  his  author 
ity,"  but  he  does  not  attribute  sufficient  importance  to 
the  influence  and  popularity  in  England  that  Johnson 
gained  by  his  course.  It  was  much  to  have  the  Saturday 
Review,  which  had  been  hostile  to  our  nation,  say  that 
the  Liverpool  banquet  was  a  great  success  and  that 
"Mr.  Johnson  is  an  excellent  example31  of  what  "experi 
enced  and  conciliatory  men  of  business"  can  "do  in  a 

28  Vol.  7,  p.  342,  October  28. 

29  Nation,  vol.  7,  p.  383. 

30  Vol.  Ill,  p.  488. 

31  Vol.  26,  p.  544. 


246  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

very  short  time,  when  they  set  about  their  task  in  the 
right  way.  He  has  not  only  made  himself  popular  in 
England,  although  he  has  only  been  a  few  weeks  here, 
but  he  has  done  much  to  make  his  countrymen  popular 
here.  He  does  this  by  being,  at  once,  cordial  and 
straightforward."  The  same  feeling  marked  a  cartoon 
published  in  the  number  of  Punch  for  December  26 
and  representing  Johnson,  Uncle  Sam,  and  John  Bull, 
"Under  the  Mistletoe." 

Seward  had  been  optimistic  as  to  Johnson's  success, 
for  sometime  before  the  treaties  were  concluded.  As 
early  as  December  4,  he  relieved  Welles  from  anxiety 
by  saying  that  he  had  "great  confidence  in  the  success" 
of  Johnson's  plan.  "Does  it,"  said  Welles,  "embrace 
claims  of  England  for  cotton  and  other  property,  cap 
tured  or  destroyed  during  the  war?"  Seward  replied 
emphatically,  "No,  it  does  not."  In  reply  to  further 
queries,  Seward  asserted  that  the  plan  shut  off  all  claims 
for  prizes  condemned  in  American  courts  and  consid 
ered  nothing  "which  could  come  within  our  admiralty 
or  local  jurisdiction."32  On  January  15,  immediately 
after  receiving  the  cablegrams  announcing  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  treaties,  Seward  told  Welles  that  he  had  all 
three  treaties.  Welles  asked  if  they  permitted  England 
to  present  claims  for  loss  of  property  by  their  people 
during  the  Civil  War  and,  when  Seward  said  yes  to 
this  question,33  continued: 

Such  a  treaty,  including  prize  captures  and  cotton,  is,  in 
every  point  of  view,  adverse  to  us.  The  balance  of  account 
will  be  against  us;  but  why  should  we  consent  to  submit  to 
arbitrament  at  all  the  destruction  of  British  property  sent  to 
assist  the  rebels  or  which  was  destroyed  within  rebel  lines. 

32  3  Diary,  474. 
M  3  Diary,  506. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  247 

When  Seward  protested  that:  "We  could  not  have  a 
treaty,  unless  it  included  all  claims  on  both  sides," 
Welles  replied:  "But  why  permit,  or  admit,  that  such 
property,  captured  on  rebel  vessels,  or  in  rebel  terri 
tory,  can  be  recognized  as  a  claim,  a  matter  of  contro 
versy?"  Seward  asked  a  counter  question,  instead  of 
replying  directly:  "Did  not  we  claim  for  the  Alabama 
captures?"  but  Welles  rejoined: 

That  was  a  very  different  question.  They  had  improperly 
interfered,  against  our  government,  with  which  they  had  trea 
ties  and  were  at  peace,  without  cause  and  to  our  injury.  We 
had  done  no  such  wrong  towards  them.  While,  therefore,  we 
had  a  just  and  equitable  claim,  they  had  none.  If  they  have 
consented  to  arbitrament  on  the  question  of  British  municipal 
law,  in  permitting  the  Alabama  to  be  built,  fitted  out,  and 
manned  in  England,  they  have  done  it  to  get  an  advantage  of 
us  in  the  matter  of  sovereignty  and  other  particulars  also. 

Later  in  the  cabinet  meeting,  McCulloh,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  agreed  with  Welles  that  England  would 
"make  a  balance  against  us,"  and  expressed  doubts 
"if  these  matters  would  be  adjusted  in  our  day — they 
would  pass  down  to  another  generation."  Seward 
showed  annoyance  at  this  speech,  but  said  nothing,  while 
Browning  remarked  that  he  was  gratified  that  the  Ala 
bama  claims  were  specifically  named.  No  other  mem 
ber  of  the  cabinet  expressed  an  opinion,  but  President 
Johnson,  who  appeared  to  Welles  to  have  previously 
consulted  with  Seward,  said:  "Right  or  wrong,  I  shall 
try  it." 

The  treaties  were  submitted  to  the  Senate  at  once 
and  Sumner  seemed  at  first  rather  favorably  inclined 
towards  them.  He  wrote  John  Bright,  on  January  17, 
that  "they  would  have  been  ratified,  at  any  time  last 


248  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

year,  almost  unanimously.34  1  fear  that  time  will  be 
needed  to  smooth  the  way  nowr.  Our  minister  has 
advertised  the  questions  by  his  numerous  speeches,  so 
that  he  has  provoked  the  public  attention,  if  not  oppo 
sition You  are  aware,  of  course,  that  the  feel 
ing  towards  Mr.  Seward  will  not  help  the  treaties." 
Two  days  later,  Sumner  wrote  Bright  again  and,  in 
speaking  of  a  conversation  on  the  preceding  evening 
with  General  Grant,  the  President-elect,  stated  that: 

He  did  not  seem  to  object  to  the  naturalization  and  San  Juan 
negotiations  but,  I  think,  he  had  a  different  feeling  in  regard 
to  the  claims  convention.  He  asked  why  this  could  not  be 
allowed  to  go  over  to  the  next  administration.35 

A  favorable  opinion  of  the  treaties  at  first  impression 
was  also  expressed  in  the  Nation36  on  January  21,  that 
Johnson,  "  after  all,  seems  likely  to  come  home  from 
England  with  credit,  his  fraternizations  with  unworthy 
persons,  his  post-prandial  oratory,  and  his  difficulties  of 
all  kinds  about  dinners,  to  the  contrary  notwithstand 
ing."  Of  the  claims  treaty,  it  was  also  said  that  "he 
has  obtained  not  only  the  concession  of  all  he  had  asked 
for,  but  of  all  Mr.  Seward  chose  to  ask  for  in  addition." 
Two  weeks  later,37  the  wind  had  veered  and  it  was  an 
nounced  that  the  treaty  would  be  rejected,  on  the  ground 
that  England  had  prolonged  the  war  for  a  year  by  her 
actions.  The  opposition  grew  and,  on  February  II, 
the  Nation  stated  that  "Mr.  Johnson  cuts  a  pitiable 
figure,"  that  the  public  was  in  favor  of  keeping  the 
question  open,  and  that  even  the  private  claimants  of 
damages  from  the  Alabama  supported  this  course.  As 

34  4  Pierce's  Sumner,  368. 

35  4  Pierce's  Sumner,  368. 

36  Vol.  8,  p.  42. 

37  Nation,  vol.  8,  p.  82. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  249 

a  proof  of  this  fact  one  of  the  heaviest  sufferers  had 
signed  a  petition  against  ratification  of  the  treaty.38  The 
objections  arose  from  many  causes.39  Some  declared 
that  Johnson  had  "  truckled  to  the  British  aristocracy 
and  ought  to  have  snubbed  them,  instead  of  mak 
ing  friendly  treaties  and  after  dinner  speeches.  Some 
thought  the  treaties  must  be  wrong,  because  the  English 
had  agreed  to  them.  Others  wanted  no  treaty,  but 
rather  a  standing  grievance,  as  a  basis  for  future  war 
with  England,"  and  still  others  considered  that  "the 
fact  that  they  were  made  by  President  Johnson's  Secre 
tary  of  State  and  minister  was  reason  enough  for  refus 
ing  to  accept  them."  Justin  McCarthy,  whose  attitude 
was  one  of  friendliness,  thus  sums  up  the  situation.40 
Johnson,  "with  a  kindly  and  good-natured  purpose  to 
put  an  end  to  an  internal  quarrel,"  seemed  not 

to  have  considered  the  difference  between  skinning  over  a 
wound  and  healing  it.  The  defect  of  his  convention  was  that 
it  made  the  whole  question  a  mere  matter  of  individual  claims. 
It  professed  to  have  to  deal  with  a  number  of  personal  and 
private  claims  of  various  kinds,  pending  since  a  former  settle 
ment  in  1853,  claims  made  on  the  one  side  by  British  subjects 
against  the  American  government  and  on  the  other  by  Amer 
ican  citizens  against  the  English  government,  and  it  proposed 
to  throw  in  the  Alabama  claims  with  the  others  and  have  a 
convention  for  the  general  clearance  of  the  whole  account. 
Now  it  must  be  evident  to  any  one,  English  or  American,  who 
considers  what  the  complaints  made  by  the  American  govern 
ment  were,  that  this  way  of  dealing  with  questions  could  not 

possibly  satisfy  the  American  people The  claim 

set  up  by  the  United  States  on  account  of  the  cruise  of  the 
Alabama  was  first  of  all  a  national  claim. 

38  Vol.  8,  p.  102. 

39  3  Seward's  Seward,  395. 

40  History  of  Our  Own  Times,  vol.  IV,  p.  158. 


250  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

Johnson  sent  Seward  two  long  dispatches  defending 
his  course.41  He  had  deemed  it  important  to  ascertain 
what  was  the  public  sentiment  of  Great  Britain  and  to 
"cultivate,  on  every  proper  occasion  which  offered  itself, 
the  friendly  feelings''  of  the  English,  and  so  had  made 
after  dinner  speeches.  The  fixing  of  the  date  of  claims 
at  1853  should  cause  no  offense.  No  provision  was  made 
for  the  submission  of  the  losses  which  our  government, 
as  such,  may  have  sustained,  for  "a  nation's  honor  can 
have  no  compensation  in  money,  and  the  depredations 
of  the  Alabama  were  on  property  in  which  our  nation 
had  no  direct  pecuniary  interest.  If  it  is  urged  that 
England  was  at  fault  in  recognizing  too  soon  the  bellig 
erency  of  the  Confederate  States,  why  is  not  complaint 
made  also  against  France?  The  time  allowed  in  the 
treaty  was  not  too  long  and  the  admission  of  English, 
as  well  as  American  claims  was  necessary,  for  it  was 
'as  absurd  as  it  would  be  insulting'  to  'suppose  that 
a  government,  alive  to  its  own  honor'  as  the  English 
had  ever  been,  would  consent  to  negotiate  upon  the 
hypothesis  that  they  had  forfeited  it."  This  "able  and 
elaborate"  exposition  of  Johnson's  views  was  not  given 
the  Senate  by  Seward,  as  it  reached  him  at  the  close 
of  the  session  of  Congress. 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  *  Relations  voted 
unanimously,  in  February,  to  report  the  claims  treaty 
unfavorably,  but  did  not  report  it  until  March  16,  after 
Grant  had  been  inaugurated.  The  treaty  undoubtedly 
gave  almost  "personal  offense  to  the  mass  of  people" 
in  the  Northern  States  and  seemed  to  them  to  admit 

41  On  February  17  and  20.  On  February  6,  he  had  written  that  the  Fenian 
prisoner  Costello  had  been  released  and,  on  February  15,  he  stated  that  Queen 
Victoria,  on  the  tenth,  had  answered  favorably  the  request  which  he  had  made 
on  January  27  that  he  might  appear  in  plain  citizen's  evening  dress  at  court 
ceremonials,  without  cocked  hat  or  sword  and  knee  breeches. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  251 

that  the  "claims  of  the  United  States  against  the  con 
duct  of  Great  Britain  as  a  government  were  mere  rant."42 
Sumner  spoke  ably  against  the  treaty,  on  April  13,  and 
Lowell  wrote  Leslie  Stephen43  that  Sumner  had  "ex 
pressed  the  national  feeling  of  the  moment  pretty  faith 
fully"  and  that  "the  country  was  blushing  at  the  maud 
lin  blarney  of  Reverdy  Johnson  and  that  made  the  old 
red  spot,  where  we  felt  that  our  cheek  had  been  slapped, 
sting  again."  The  treaty  received  but  one  favorable 
vote  and  Welles  wrote  this44  epitaph : 

Thus  end  the  labors  of  Seward  and  Reverdy  Johnson  on  that 
important  subject.  I  never  thought  that  this  was  the  time, 
or  that  they  rightly  appreciated  the  question,  or  that  they 
were  the  proper  men  to  adjust  or  to  attempt  the  settlement 
of  it. 

After  Johnson's  death,  however,  the  Nation  summed 
up  the  matter  more  accurately  in  saying: 

Even  his  Alabama  negotiations,  now  that  the  passions  of 
the  time  are  no  longer  active,45  must  be  acknowledged  to 
have  been  creditable  to  him  and  it  requires  a  good  deal  of  dis 
crimination  to  make  out,  wherein  the  settlement  obtained  by 
him  fell  short  of  what  was  afterwards  obtained  by  General 
Grant.  The  real  objection  to  his  treaty  was  that  it  was  nego 
tiated  by  a  Johnsonian  Democrat,  who  was  too  polite  to  the 
British  aristocracy,  at  a  time  when  we  hated  the  British 
aristocracy. 

Meanwhile  Johnson  was  closing  his  English  ministry.46 
He  continued  to  attend  dinners  and  spoke  at  the  inaugu- 

42  Vide  2  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  in  Congress,  489. 

43  On  April  24,  1869,  2  Lowell's  Letters,  26. 

44  3  Diary  578,  April  16. 

45  Vol.  22,  p.  106. 

46  On  Seward's  leaving  office  in  March,  Johnson  wrote  him,  3  Seward's 
Seward,  398,  a  personal  and  grateful  note,  congratulating  him  on  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  department  of  state. 


252  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

ral  banquet  of  the  Colonial  Society  on  March  io.47 
The  Times  extolled  him,  but  the  Spectator  said,48  "there 
is  an  end  of  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson  at  last  and  we  can 
not  affect  to  be  sorry.  Never  was  a  man  so  bespattered 
with  senseless  praise.  He  wanted  to  forgive  and  forget 
all  around"  and  "put  forth  enormous  demands,"  while 
he  "professed  enormous  friendship." 

Arriving  in  New  York  early  in  June,49  he  spoke  of  the 
hospitality  he  had  received,  alluded  to  Sumner's  speech 
as  a  preposterous  performance  and  looked  for  a  reaction 
in  his  favor. 

The  completest  defense  of  his  treaty,  which  I  have 
found,  is  contained  in  a  letter  which  Johnson  wrote  on 
November  28,  iSyo,60  to  John  A.  Parker,  president  of  the 
Great  Western  Insurance  Company,  in  answer  to  an 
inquiry  for  information.  "Under  this  convention," 
Johnson  wrote, 

I  have  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  all  the  losses  to  our 
citizens  inflicted  by  the  Alabama  and  other  vessels,  fitted  out 
as  she  was,  would  long  since  have  been  fully  discharged.  The 
public  sentiment  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  exhibited  to 
me  on  visits  by  invitation  to  all  the  large  towns  in  England 
and  Scotland  obviously  favored  such  payment  .... 

47  2  Morleys'  Gladstone,  401.  Johnson  made  some  facetious  remarks  about 
the  colonies  being  transferred  from  the  Union  Jack  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
and  Lord  Granville  replied  that  England  was  not  prepared  to  open  negotiations 
for  the  cession  of  Canada.  An  eulogistic  article  on  Johnson  at  the  time  of 
his  return  to  the  United  States  may  be  found  in  2  Balto.  Law.  Trans.  460, 
May  18,  1869. 

<8  April  io,  vol.  42,  p.  442. 

49  8  Nation  446,  June  io,  from  interview  in  New  York  Times.  He  spoke  of 
the  hospitality  he  had  received,  alluded  to  Sumner's  speech  as  a  preposterous 
performance  and  looked  for  a  reaction  in  his  favor.  (He  also  made  a  depre 
ciatory  allusion  to  Smalley,  who  had  attacked  him  in  the  Tribune.)  John 
Bigelow's  Memoirs,  vol.  4.  pp.  230,  244,  245,  269,  278,  287,  show  the  popular 
feeling  in  1869  with  reference  to  the  Johnson-Clarendon  Treaty. 

i0  John  Bigelow's  Memoirs,  vol.  5,  p.  423. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  253 

Under  this  convention  the  question  of  the  recognition  of  South 
ern  belligerency,  as  well  as  any  other  question  which  either 
government  might  think  proper  to  raise  before  the  Commis 
sion,  could  have  been  presented. 

He  maintained  that  during  the  interval  between  the 
transmission  of  the  treaty  to  the  Senate  and  its  rejec 
tion,  he  was  ''not  advised  by  any  member  of  the  body, 
or  by  the  State  Department,  what  were  the  objections 
to  the  convention,  or  that  there  were  any."  The  news 
papers  led  him  to  believe  that  objection  was  made, 
because  the  treaty  contained  no  provision  for  "the 
settlement  of  claims  which  our  government  then  sup 
posed  it  had  in  its  own  right  upon  Great  Britain.  Up 
to  this  time,  I  had  never  heard  that  the  United  States 
contemplated  such  a  demand.  My  instructions,  as  did 
those  of  Mr.  Adams,  looked  exclusively  to  the  adjust 
ment  of  individual  claims."  When  Johnson  learned  that 
some  Senators  thought  that  the  United  States  had  a 
"claim  of  its  own  for  alleged  pecuniary  losses,  caused 
directly  or  indirectly  by  the  conduct  of  the  British  gov 
ernment,  I  proposed  to  Lord  Clarendon,  first  in  a  per 
sonal  interview  and  afterwards  in  an  official  note  dated 
the  25th  of  March,  1869,  the  signing  of  a  supplementary 
convention,  which  should  only  so  far  modify  that  of 
the  fourteenth  of  January  as  to  provide  for  the  settle 
ment  of  any  claims  that  either  government  might  have 
upon  the  other."  Clarendon's  answer,  on  April  8,  led 
Johnson  to  believe  that,  "if  I  was  expressly  instructed 
to  make  such  an  offer,  it  would  be  acceded  to,"  where 
upon  Johnson  telegraphed  Fish,  the  new  Secretary  of 
State,  that  he  thought  he  could  obtain  "such  a  modifi 
cation,  if  instructed  to  propose  it."  Fish  telegraphed 
back  that  the  convention  was  before  the  Senate  and  the 
President,  therefore,  "did  not  think  it  advisable  to  change 


254  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

it."  Johnson  could  not  see  the  force  of  this  reason,  "if 
the  administration  really  desired  an  amicable  settlement 
of  the  controversy,"  and  told  Parker  that  he  believed 
that  individuals  had  the  right  to  apply  directly  to  Great 
Britain  for  redress,  without  violating  any  federal  law 
and  that  underwriters  who  have  paid  insurance  had  also 
a  right  by  the  doctrine  of  subrogation  to  apply  to  Great 
Britain.  He  was  surprised  to  hear  that  the  administra 
tion  thought  otherwise. 

There  were  important  postscripts  to  Johnson's  English 
ministry  in  two  pamphlets  which  he  printed  in  1871 
and  1872,  in  response  to  a  speech  of  Sir  Roundell  Palmer,51 
afterwards  Earl  of  Selborne,  and  to  a  resolution  intro 
duced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Hon.  J.  A. 
Peters.52  Grant  had  taken  up  the  matter  of  settling 
disputes  with  England  and  the  treaty  of  Washington 
had  been  concluded,  referring  the  question  to  arbitrators 
at  Geneva.  Johnson  felt  that  our  claims  were  well 
founded  and  that  it  was  proper  to  leave  to  arbitration 
the  decision  as  to  the  rightfulness  of  the  British  proc 
lamation  of  May  13,  1 86 1,  recognizing  the  Confederates 
as  belligerents,  especially  as  Lord  Russell  had  used  extra 
ordinary  haste  in  issuing  it.  It  was  "more  than  prob 
able  that,  if  they  had  not  been  recognized  as  belliger 
ents,  the  war  would  have  terminated  much  sooner  than 
it  did."  Our  government,  had  refused  to  arbitrate,  unless 
the  English  had  included  the  consideration  of  the  bel- 

51  The  Reply  is  dated  September  8,  1871,  and  contains  50  printed  pages.    In 
his  Personal  and  Political  Memorials,  Part  II,  vol.  I,  p.  209  and  224,  the  Earl, 
with  whom  Johnson  claimed  a  slight  acquaintance,  said  that  the  Reply  con 
firmed,  rather  than  displaced,  his  reasons  for  preferring  the  settlement  made 
by  the  treaty  of  Washington. 

52  Letter  from  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson  to  Hon.  John  A.  Peters,  on  the  subject 
of  the  Washington  Treaty  and  its  construction  in  relation  to  the  claim  of  the 
United  States  for  Consequential  Damages.     Baltimore,  1872,  pp.  19. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  255 

ligerency  in  the  treaty.  The  Johnson-Clarendon  treaty 
had  been  hailed  with  delight  in  England  and  had  been 
rejected  in  the  United  States,  through  causes  wholly 
irrespective  of  its  merits.  The  value  of  arbitration  is 
shown  in  the  disastrous  results  of  the  recent  Franco- 
Prussian  war  and  the  decision  of  the  case  will  not  im 
peach  England's  honor.  Our  position  was  that  the 
losses  for  which  damages  are  claimed  were  incurred 
through  England's  violation  of  neutrality,  as  defined 
by  international  law,  or  through  intentionally  failing  to 
enact  municipal  laws  coextensive  with  her  neutral  duty, 
or  through  her  failure  to  enforce  such  of  her  laws  as 
fulfilled  her  neutral  obligations  at  international  law. 

It  had  been  the  uniform  doctrine  of  the  United  States 
that  neutrality  is  a  part  of  international  law  and  that 
the  "Law  of  nations  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  law  of 
every  civilized  government,  as  is  its  own  municipal 
legislation."  The  manner  of  fulfilling  the  international 
obligations  of  a  neutral  rests  on  municipal  law  and,  if 
such  law  was  inefficient,  the  neutral  power  may  not 
defend  itself,  by  saying  that  it  executed  the  law  in  good 
faith.  The  Jay  treaty  is  a  precedent,  as  it  provided  for 
the  consideration  of  English  claims  by  reason  of  cap 
tures  "taken  by  vessels  originally  armed  in  the  ports" 
of  the  United  States.  The  duty  of  vigilance  is  involved 
in  the  duty  of  neutrality.  "It  is  for  a  neutral  nation 
herself  to  guard  against  its  violation.  She  has  no  right 
to  call  upon  the  belligerent  to  assist  her"  and  he  is  un 
able  to  ascertain  what  goes  on  in  her  ports.  England 
failed  to  exercise  due  diligence  as  to  the  Florida  and  the 
Alabama.  The  Florida  was  allowed  to  depart  from 
Liverpool  and  from  Nassau  and  the  crew  of  the  Alabama, 
who  burned  captured  ships,  as  the  Confederacy  had  no 
ports  which  they  might  be  taken,  committed  treason 


256  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

against  the  United  States.  The  fact  that  the  vessels 
were  not  fully  armed  when  they  left  England  does  not 
relieve  her  of  responsibility,  for  she  used  no  "diligence 
at  all,  in  the  legal  sense  of  the  term."  He  examined  the 
evidence  in  detail  and  said  that  Laird's  rams  were  seized 
later  on  no  greater  evidence,  when  England  feared  de 
mands  for  indemnity  and  could  see  that  the  South's 
cause  was  lost.  Johnson  praised  Adams,  his  predecessor, 
and  Sumner,  whose  support  of  the  recent  treaty  did  him 
honor.  Although  the  people  of  Liverpool  had  winked 
at  the  slavery  in  a  foreign  land  through  which  they  had 
acquired  riches,  yet,  when  Johnson  visited  that  place 
as  a  guest  of  the  city,  he 

was  truly  glad  to  find  that  whatever  of  hostile  feeling  towards 
the  United  States  had  been  entertained  by  the  people,  pending 
the  insurrection,  no  longer  existed.  The  attentions  paid  me, 
as  the  official  representative  of  my  country,  by  every  class  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  received  the  expression  of  my  hope 
and  belief  that  the  friendly  relations  of  the  two  countries 
would  soon  be  perfectly  secured,  satisfied  me  that  they  as 
sincerely  desired  such  a  result  as  I  did. 

In  the  pamphlet  addressed  to  Mr.  Peters,  who  had 
introduced  a  resolution  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  the  effect  that  the  claim  for  consequential  damages 
be  withdrawn  and  with  whose  views  Johnson  agreed, 
the  latter  set  himself  to  consider  what  was  the  true  con 
struction  of  the  treaty  of  Washington,  irrespective  of 
extrinsic  circumstances,  what  was  the  effect  of  such 
circumstances  in  showing  the  purpose  of  the  two  gov 
ernments,  and  what  course  our  government  should  adopt, 
if  Great  Britain  should  refuse  to  submit  the  claim  for 
consequential  damages  to  arbitration.  England  ex 
pressed  regret  for  the  depredations,  but  her  expressions 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  257 

do  not  cover  indirect  or  consequential  damages.  Such 
immense  losses  would  surely  have  been  made  the  sub 
ject  of  arbitration  in  clear  terms,  if  the  government  in 
tended  to  include  them.  The  claim  for  consequential 
damages  rests  on  the  assumption  that  the  cruisers  col 
lectively  produced  such  damages,  through  the  cost  of 
pursuing  the  vessels,  the  transference  of  vessels  in  the 
commercial  marine  from  the  American  to  the  British 
flag,  the  increased  premium  of  insurance,  and  the  pro 
longation  of  the  war.  Johnson  held  that  the  arbitrators 
had  no  right  to  decide  on  the  result  produced  by  the 
cruisers  in  the  aggregate,  but  to  find  what  is  due  on 
account  of  each  cruiser  and  so  no  indirect  damages 
should  be  allowed.  The  precedent  treaties,  viz.,  that 
of  Jay,  that  of  1853,  the  Johnson-Stanley  protocol  of 
November  9,  1868,  which  had  not  been  satisfactory  to 
President  Johnson,  and  the  Johnson-Clarendon  conven 
tion,  had  not  included  consequential  damages.  Sumner's 
speech  of  April  13,  1869,  was  the  first  suggestion  that 
this  omission  was  a  fault.  The  war  was  far  from  an 
end  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  it  continued  through 
the  "indomitable  courage  and  consummate  skill  of  the 
armies  of  the  Confederates  and  of  their  resolve  to  con 
tinue  the  struggle,  until  all  hopes  of  success  were  lost." 
The  chief  causes  of  the  rejection  of  the  Johnson-Clarendon 
treaty  were  the  circumstances  attending  its  negotiation, 
which  circumstances,  as  Hamilton  Fish,  Grant's  Secre 
tary  of  State,  wrote  Motley  on  May  15,  1869,  "were 
very  unfavorable  to  its  acceptance,  either  by  the  people 
or  by  the  Senate." 

The  nation  had  just  emerged  from  its  periodical  choice  of 
chief  magistrate  and,  having  changed  the  depository  of  its 
confidence  and  its  power,  looked  with  no  favor  on  an  attempt 
at  the  settlement  of  the  great  and  grave  questions  depending, 


258  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

by  those  on  the  eve  of  retiring  from  power,  without  consulting, 
or  considering,  the  views  of  the  ruler  recently  intrusted  with 
their  confidence  and  without  communication  with  the  Senate, 
to  whose  approval  the  treaty  would  be  constitutionally  sub 
mitted,  or  with  any  of  its  members. 

Our  government  should  withdraw  its  claims  for  con 
sequential  damages,  since  "the  leading  object  of  the 
treaty,  and  that  which  has  challenged  for  it  the  approval 
of  mankind,  is  that  it  substituted  a  peaceful  and  honor 
able  termination  of  national  controversies  by  arbitra 
tion,  for  the  uncertain,  inhuman,  unchristian  arbitra 
ment  of  the  sword."  Should  the  administration  per 
sist  in  the  claim,  Congress  should  express  an  opinion 
on  the  subject,  having  a  right  to  do  so,  from  being 
invested  with  the  war  power,  inasmuch  as  the  conduct 
of  the  executive  would  be  likely  to  lead  us  into  contro 
versies  with  foreign  power.  The  public  spirit  shown  in 
these  pamphlets  and  the  cogency  of  their  arguments 
are  noteworthy  and  the  fact  that  Johnson  prepared  and 
published  them  showed  his  continued  interest  in  na 
tional  affairs. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH  (1869-76) 

Johnson  returned  from  England  early  in  June,  1869, 
and  took  up  the  practice  of  the  law  with  such  zest  that 
his  seventy-three  years  seemed  to  have  brought  no  old 
age  to  him.  Judge  Dennis  writes  of  him  that,  in  these 
latter  days,  "he  seemed  to  me,  half  the  time  to  be  try 
ing  a  case  for  the  fun  of  it;"  but  that,  "in  the  general 
conduct  of  the  case,  his  skill,  his  resourcefulness,  his 
pertinacity,  and  a  courage,  which  no  difficulties,  or  un 
foreseen  adverse  happenings,  could  ever  daunt,  made 
him  an  antagonist  to  be  dreaded  to  the  end."  He  was 
said  to  be  "most  dangerous,"  because  "you  never  could 
be  sure  when  you  had  him  beaten."  Governor  John 
Lee  Carroll1  said: 

I  always  considered  him  a  great  leader,  in  the  days  when 
there  were  giants  at  the  head  of  the  Maryland  bar  and  his 
manly  courage  was  as  great  as  his  ability. 

Sergeant  wrote  in   1873,2  that  Johnson's  name  was 

1  Letter  of  May  2,  1906. 

2  N.  Sergeant,  Men  and  Events.     Another  interesting  testimonial  is  found  in 
Scharf's  Baltimore  City  and  County  at  p.  715.     "A  man  of  wonderful  power, 
both  physical  and  mental,  combative  yet  subtle,  acute,  yet  never  wasting  time 
on  hairsplitting.     Mr.  Johnson's  scope  and  range  were  remarkable.     He  could 
talk  to  a  jury  of  plain  farmers  in  a  simple  diction  of  which  they  understood 
every  word,  or  thought  they  did,  and  so  make  them  have  perfect  faith  in  a 
new  medical  theory  of  'moral  insanity,'  invented  by  him  for  the  nonce  and 
reenforced  by  precept  and  example.    He  knew,  none  better  than  he  knew, 
how  to  address  the  venerable  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  so  as  to  win  their 
approbation,  while  securing  their  attention  and  giving  them  the  pleasing  sense 
of  relief  from  the  deluge  of  verbiage  perpetually  rising  round  and  threatening 
to  overwhelm  them.    He  was  the  readiest  of  debaters  in  the  Senate,  where  his 

259 


26O  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

"familiar  to  every  man  of  intelligence  in  the  United 
States  and  designated  one  not  less  universally  respected 
than  known."  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  a  "colossal  and 
familiar  figure"  and  was  held,  by  "his  legal  associates," 
as  the  "head  of  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court."  He 
"combined  the  suaviter  in  modo  with  the  for  liter  in  re 
and  denunciation,  or  harsh  charges,  were  foreign  to  him." 
He  possessed  "ready  and  most  felicitous  oratorical  pow 
ers"3  and  a  "happy  tact  in  after  dinner  speeches." 

He  continued  to  appear  in  important  cases,  such  as 
the  one  concerning  the  fraudulent  stock  of  the  Parkers- 
burg  Branch  Railroad,4  the  one  concerning  the  capitation 
tax  on  the  Washington  Branch  Railroad5  and  the  one 

profound  grasp  of  constitutional  subjects  kept  him  ready  armed  in  any  emer 
gency.  He  was  skillful,  astute,  and  au  fait  in  all  the  language  and  terms  of 
diplomacy,  never  losing  sight  of  the  main  issue  of  his  case,  while  affecting,  with 
the  politesse  of  Talleyrand,  the  indifferent  attachment  of  a  Walpole  to  the  middle 
way  of  a  compromise,  and,  as  an  after  dinner  speaker,  he  was  as  clear,  as  genial, 
as  sparkling,  and  as  delightful  as  a  draught  of  old  South  side  Madeira,  sunny 
and  golden  as  the  rays  in  which  it  had  ripened.  His  capacity  for  work  and 
business  was  almost  miraculous.  It  despised  the  weight  of  years  and  the  loss 
of  sight." 

3  Mr.  J.  V.  L.  Findlay  writes  that  Judge  Hugh  L.  Bond  told  him  that  when 
Johnson  was  counsel  for  the  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  indicted  in  the 
United  States  Court  in  South  Carolina,  he  showed  his  gift  for  repartee.     A 
member  of  the  Klan  had  turned  State's  evidence  and  was  an  over  smart  witness. 
He  had  given  a  description  of  the  meeting  of  the  Klan,  of  the  oaths  taken, 
and  the  ritual,  in  his  examination  in  chief,  and  Mr.  Johnson,  at  the  close  of  it, 
asked  him,  whether  he  had  told  every  thing  he  knew  about  the  Klan  and  he 
then,  with  apparently  timid  reluctance  and  with  a  cunning  sort  of  reserve, 
said,  "No;"  whereupon  Mr.  Johnson  said:  "Out  with  it,  we  want  to  hear  it 
all."    The  witness  then  said  there  was  one  thing  he  had  failed  to  mention  and 
that  was  that,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  to  which  he  had  referred,  a  hat  was 
passed  around  to  take  up  a  collection  for  Mr.  Johnson's  fee,  whereupon  Mr. 
Johnson,  as  quick  as  a  flash,  said  "I  hope  the  meeting  did  not  appoint  you  to 
carry  the  hat." 

4  In  1870,  Scharf's  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  p.  681. 

*  Johnson  gave  an  opinion  against  the  constitutionality  of  that  tax  whicb 
was  published  in  pamphlet  form  in  1870,  pp.  ic 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  26 1 

concerning  the  North  Carolina  special  tax  bonds.6  His 
very  last  case  was  an  ordinary  damage  suit  for  false 
arrest  and  imprisonment,  which,  like  other  nisi  prius 
cases,  he  took,  in  Judge  Dennis's  opinion,  "largely  for 
the  fun  he  got  out  of  it." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1872, 
on  April  26,  Johnson  wrote  Governor  Bradford,  that  it 
was  important  for  the  latter  to  go  to  the  Cincinnati 
Convention.  Johnson  believed  that  Judge  Davis  would 
be  named  and  believed  his  nomination  for  the  Presi 
dency  to  be  the  strongest  one  that  could  be  made. 

His  high  character,  great  talents,  great  firmness,  and  liber 
ality  can  not  fail,  if  he  is  nominated,  to  obtain  for  him  the 
votes  of  thousands  of  Republicans  in  all  the  States,  as  well 
as  to  obtain  the  general  support  of  the  Democratic  party. 

When  the  Convention,  however,  named  Greeley  for 
the  Presidency,  Johnson  decided  to  support  him  against 
Grant  and  in  July  published  an  opinion  of  Greeley,  as  pos 
sessing  ''extraordinary  ability,  perfect  patriotism,  and  in 
corruptible  integrity."7  The  faults  of  Grant's  adminis 
tration  were  set  forth  in  detail  and  Greeley's  protectionist 
ideas  were  not  considered  sufficient  reason  to  reject  him. 
He  had  been  a  friend  to  peace  and  to  the  South  from  the 
end  of  the  war.  As  a  "constant  and  ardent  friend  of 
general  amnesty  and  of  universal  suffrage,  he  cannot  but 
have  commended  himself  to  the  good  opinion  of  the 
white  and  colored  citizens  of  that  region." 

Johnson  spoke  in  public  for  the  last  time  on  January 

•His  opinion  in  favor  of  the  legality  of  these  bonds  was  printed  in  1873, 

P-  Q. 

7  A  correspondence  between  the  Hon.  James  Brooks  of  New  York  and  the 
Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Baltimore  on  the  State  of  the  Country  and  the 
way  to  avert  the  peril  which  threatened  it,  1872,  p.  15. 


262  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

J5>  J875,8  at  a  meeting  held  in  Baltimore,  when  he 
attacked  the  Federal  administration  for  its  policy  in 
Louisiana.  He  put  the  responsibility  for  the  action  of 
the  United  States  troops  in  that  State  entirely  on  Grant 
and  said  he  would  have  voted  to  convict  Andrew  John 
son,  at  the  time  of  the  impeachment  trial,  if  like  accusa 
tion  had  been  made  against  him.  On  September  15, 
he  presided  at  a  mass  meeting  in  Baltimore,  held  in 
favor  of  the  Democratic  State  ticket,  which  contained 
the  name  of  his  son-in-law,  C.  J.  M.  Gwinn,  as  candi 
date  for  attorney-general.  He  wrote  a  speech  for  that 
occasion,  which  was  read  for  him,  and  which  defended 
the  nominees  and  the  party  organization,  "Party  tri 
umphs,"  he  said,  "depend  as  much  upon  discipline  as 
triumphs  on  the  battlefield."  He  denied  that  corrup 
tion  had  characterized  the  city  or  State  governments 
and  claimed  that  a  Republican  victory  in  the  State 
would  show  confidence  in  the  "national  administration, 
whose  continuance  is  pregnant  with  danger,  both  to 
our  material  interests  and  to  the  very  forms  of  govern 
ments."9  At  that  last  meeting,  he  showed  his  interest 
in  younger  men,  by  reminding  John  V.  L.  Findlay,  one 
of  the  other  speakers,  as  he  rose  on  the  platform,  to  use 
an  anecdote  which  he  had  recently  told  Johnson  and 
which  the  latter  had  enjoyed.  The  same  kindliness  of 
heart  was  shown  in  his  habit  of  having  his  little  grand 
daughter  read  to  him  every  night  after  dinner  the  jokes 
she  would  cut  from  the  daily  papers,  whereupon  he 
would  place  the  clipping  in  his  pocketbook  for  preser 
vation  to  show  his  appreciation  of  them.  His  kind 
heart10  was  also  shown  in  that,  whenever  Johnson  went 
to  Annapolis,  he  bought  from  an  old  colored  woman, 

8  The  Louisiana  Matter,  Address  of  Reverdy  Johnson  at  the  Meeting  of  the 
Citizens  of  Baltimore  held  in  Masonic  Temple,  1875,  p.  20. 

9  Speech  delivered  by  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  1875,  p.  16. 
10  Told  by  Edwin  Higgins,  Esq. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  263 

whom  he  had  known  all  his  life,  several  packages,  each 
containing  a  pound  of  taffy  for  one  of  his  grandchildren.11 

On  November  6,  1875,  Johnson,  with  a  son-in-law, 
Mr.  Charles  G.  Kerr,  went  to  England  on  legal  busi 
ness  concerning  lands  in  Florida,  from  which  trip  he 
returned  on  January  19,  1876.  Shortly  after  his  return, 
on  February  I,  he  wrote  Senator  Bayard  that  he  had 
no  doubt  ot  the  constitutionality  of  a  Congressional 
appropriation  for  the  Centennial  Exhibition.  Although 
he  had  taken  the  side  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Mary 
land  in  1875,  when  libel  suits  were  brought  by  public 
officials  against  the  American,  the  Republican  news 
paper,  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  campaign,  Johnson 
volunteered  his  services  as  attorney  for  the  defense, 
thinking  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  in  peril,  and  con 
ferred  with  the  senior  editor  of  that  paper  on  the  very 
day  before  his  death.12 

In  the  Spring  of  1875,  he  argued  his  last  cases  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  but  he  continued  to  appear  in  the  State 
Courts  and,  on  February  10,  1876,  went  to  Annapolis 
to  be  the  guest  of  Governor  Carroll,  expecting  to  argue 
a  case  before  the  Court  of  Appeals  on  the  next  day.13 

11 1  B.  R.  Curtis's  Life,  44. 

12  When  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune  was  arrested  at  the  suit  of  ex- 
Governor  Shepherd  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Johnson  left  Baltimore  for 
Washington  and  sent  his  son  at  once  to  see  if  there  was  imminent  danger,  act 
ing  on  the  double  ground  of  sympathy  and  personal  friendship  for  the  defend 
ant.     Before  going  to  Europe  in  December,  he  took  pains  to  see  that  the  case 
could  not  come  up  in  his  absence  and,  on  his  return,  he  wrote,  advising  the 
editor  of  that  fact  and  asking  that  he  be  notified  to  appear  at  the  trial. 

13  The  case  was  Metcalf  v.  Brooklyn  Life  Insurance  Company,  in  which 
Johnson  was  associated  with  Edwin  Higgins,  Esq.    Mr.  Higgins  writes  that 
"in  this  case  he  gave  his  time  and  abilities     ....     without  compensa 
tion,  because  our  client  was  the  son  of  one  of  his  old  friends,  at  one  time  clerk 
of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Baltimore."     Mr.  Higgins  was  invited  to  Governor 
Carroll's  to  dinner  that  evening  and,  as  he  had  opposed  Carroll  at  the  election 
the  previous  autumn,  asked  Johnson's  advice  as  to  accepting  the  invitation 
and  was  told:  "Never  mind  the  politics,  accept  by  all  means." 


264  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

A  number  of  gentlemen  were  invited  to  meet  him  for 
dinner.  After  dinner,  Johnson  asked  permission  to  lie 
on  a  sofa  in  the  library  for  a  few  minutes.  When  he 
was  sought  there,  the  room  was  found  empty  and  his 
dead  body  was  discovered  lying  on  the  ground  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Executive  Mansion.  Some  thought  he 
had  mistaken  an  open  window  for  a  door  and  had  stepped 
out  and  fallen  into  the  paved  area  below,  but  it  was 
more  probable  that  he  had  left  the  house  for  a  short 
stroll,  turned  close  to  the  wall,  stumbled  on  a  lump  of 
coal  and  fell  against  a  projecting  corner  of  the  building, 
thus  fracturing  his  skull. 

On  the  next  day,  his  death  from  an  "unaccountable 
and  unwitnessed  accident"  was  announced  by  the  Gov 
ernor  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  was  in  session, 
and  the  flag  on  the  State  House  was  placed  at  half  mast. 
Both  Houses  met,  in  the  Hall  of  (.he  House  of  Delegates, 
in  the  early  afternoon  and  proceeded  in  a  body  to  the 
Governor's  Mansion,  to  join  there  the  students  of  St. 
John's  College,  and  the  members  of  the  Court  of  Appeals, 
in  acting  as  an  escort  for  the  body  to  the  depot.  A 
joint  committee  of  the  General  Assembly  prepared  reso 
lutions  of  regret,  which  speak  of  Johnson  as  having 
"the  consummate  ability  and  commanding  intellect, 
which  exalted  him  as  the  foremost  jurist  of  America 
and  which  bear  testimony  to  his  patriotic  impulses, 
unsullied  private  character,  and  ennobling  virtues.  On 
the  sixteenth,  the  resolutions  were  considered  in  the 
Senate,  the  gallery  being  filled  with  ladies,  and  several 
speeches  were  made,  among  them  one  by  Dr.  Lewis  H. 
Steiner  of  Frederick,  who  stated  that  "there  was  some 
thing  indescribably  grand  in  the  resolute  firmness  with 

14  Dr.  Lewis  H.  Steiner,  who  was  one  of  the  physicians  called  in,  wrote 
"  I  saw  the  body  about  9.30.  There  were  two  cuts  on  the  left  side  of  his  head, 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  265 

which  the  veteran  lawyer  continued  to  tread  the  labor 
ious  paths  of  an  exacting  profession,  after  the  eye  had 
ceased  to  furnish  the  aid  to  research  and  study  that 
would  seem  almost  indispensable."15 

The  family  declined  a  public  funeral,  but  seventy 
carriages  followed  the  hearse  from  his  residence16  to 
Greenmount  Cemetery,  where  the  burial  took  place  on 
Sunday,  February  13.  On  Friday,  tributes  had  been 
paid  him  by  lawyers  in  the  Court  of  Appeals  at  Annapolis 
and  in  the  United  States  Court  in  Baltimore,17  while, 
on  Saturday,  a  Bar  Meeting  had  been  held  in  his  honor 
in  Baltimore,  at  which  Governor  A.  W.  Bradford  bore 
witness  to  Johnson's  "  lucid  and  logical  arrangement, 
his  cogent  and  resistless  argument,  and  his  matchless 
cross  examination  of  a  reluctant  witness."  At  the  same 
occasion,  Thomas  Donaldson  spoke  of  his  kindness  of 
heart,  courtesy,  quickness  of  mind,  and  cheerfulness; 
and  George  William  Brown  remarked  upon  the  way  in 
which  his  "powerful  mind  fastened  itself,  with  intense 
concentration,  on  the  case  which  he  had  in  mind." 

A  meeting  of  Marylanders  resident  in  Washington 
was  held  in  his  memory,  presided  over  by  Dr.  C.  C. 
Cox.  The  Department  of  Justice  was  closed,  and,  after 

the  skull  was  crushed,  the  ossa  nasi  broken,  one  finger  on  the  left  hand  dis 
located  and  bruises  on  various  parts  of  the  body.  It  is  surmised  that  he  fell 
and  struck  his  head  against  the  wall." 

15  The  writer  of  a  sketch  of  Johnson's  life  in  Richardson  and  Bennett's 
Baltimore,  p.  329,  said  of  Johnson:  "Simple  in  his  taste,  kind  and  generous  in 
his  impulses,  a  warm  and  confiding  friend  and  a  most  forgiving  enemy,  he  is 
not  only  entitled  to  the  place  we  have  given  him  among  lawyers  and  states 
men,  but  he  commands  an  equally  exalted  position  as  a  man." 

16n8  Park  Street. 

17  R.  Stockett  Matthews  spoke  of  him  in  Baltimore  "as  a  most  accessible 
man  and  as  not  a  case  lawyer,  but  a  reasoner."  The  Proceedings  in  the  Court 
of  Appeals  may  be  found  in  43  Md.  Reports  XIII.  Johnson's  death  was 
announced  by  Edwin  Higgins,  Esq.,  and  S.  T.  Wallis.  Alexander  Randall  and 
Judge  J.  L.  Bartol  spoke. 


266  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

the  funeral,  on  February  18,  a  meeting  of  the  Bench  and 
Bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  held  in  the  Court  Room.18 
Matthew  H.  Carpenter  presided  over  the  meeting  and 
said:  "I  loved  the  old  man."  He  "gave  me  fatherly 
recognition,  became  my  adviser  and  ever  after  remained 
my  friend."  "His  compact,  firm  knit  frame,  his  heavy 
shoulders,  his  round  head,  his  striking  face,  bearing  the 
furrows  of  many  sharp  professional  and  political  con 
flicts,  but  from  which  there  still  shone  his  gentle  kindly 
nature — all  indicated  a  man  of  genial  nature,  yet  reso 
lute  of  purpose — a  man  easy  to  court,  but  dangerous  in 
conflicts." 

Considering  the  extent  and  variety  of  his  practice,  his  natu 
ral  resources  and  professional  attainments,  his  thorough  self- 
possession  and  steadiness  of  nerve,  when  the  skill  of  an  opponent 
unexpectedly  brought  on  the  crisis  of  a  great  trial — an  oppor 
tunity  for  feeble  men  to  lose  first  themselves  and  then  their 
cause — his  fidelity  to  the  oath,  which  was  anciently  adminis 
tered  to  all  the  lawyers  of  England,  to  present  nothing  false, 
but  to  make  war  for  their  clients,  the  audacity  of  his  valor, 
when  the  fate  of  his  client  was  in  the  balance,  he  believing  his 
client  to  be  right,  while  every  one  else  believed  him  to  be 
wrong,  remembering  all  these  traits,  we  must  rank  him  with 
the  greatest  lawyers  and  advocates  of  this  or  any  other  country. 

A  committee  of  fifteen  illustrious  lawyers  was  appointed 
to  prepare  resolves.  Senator  George  F.  Edmunds  of 
Vermont  was  chairman  of  the  committee  and  spoke  of 
the  "extensive  and  varied  contributions  that  he  has 
made  to  jurisprudence  and  to  its  application  to  the 
affairs  of  men."  "His  great  mind  has  been  brought  to 
the  consideration  of  every  variety  of  question  that  can 

18  Proceedings,  etc.,  Washington,  1876,  p.  23.  The  Proceedings  in  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  may  be  found  in  92  U.  S.  Reports. 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  267 

arise  in  the  affairs  of  men,  from  the  lowest  and  simplest 
to  the  highest  and  most  complex."  Thirty  years  later, 
Mr.  Edmunds  wrote,19  "He  was  a  great  lawyer,  a  power 
ful  debater  and  a  highbred  gentleman,  for  whom  I  had 
much  admiration."  Philip  Phillips  followed  Edmunds, 
bearing  testimony  to  the  fact  that  Johnson  and  B.  R. 
Curtis  were  the  "  acknowledged  leaders  of  the  American 
bar  and  their  experience,  learning,  and  intellectual  power, 
justified  fully  the  high  position  which,  by  common  con 
sent,  was  awarded  to  them."  Johnson  uniformly  dis 
played  "ability"  in  "the  argument  of  his  causes  in  the 
Supreme  Court"  and,  "amiability"  in  his  "intercourse 
with  his  professional  brethren."  Theodore  F.  Freling- 
huysen  came  next,  saying  that,  "as  a  statesman  he  had 
large  views  and  compassed  the  interests  of  his  whole 
country.  Eminently  familiar  with  and  learned  in  inter 
national  law,  in  constitutional  law,  in  the  history  of 
his  times  and  of  his  country,  at  any  moment  and  on 
any  emergency,  he  was  ready  to  come  to  the  front  and 
there,  courageously  and  ably,  contend  for  what  he  be 
lieved  the  best  interests  of  his  country."  Johnson  was 
"eminently  a  ready  man"  and  a  "patriot,  with  whom 
the  love  and  the  duty  he  owed  his  country  was  para 
mount  to  any  allegiance  he  owed  to  a  party."  Courage 
and  generosity  were  his  marked  characteristics  and  "he 
delighted  in  words  and  acts  of  kindness.  He  withheld 
his  sympathy  from  no  one  in  trouble."  George  Ticknor 
Curtis  bore  testimony  to  his  ability  in  the  Dred  Scott 
Case  and  E.  N.  Dickerson  to  his  "reputation  as  a  pro 
found  jurist,  a  wise  legislator,  and  a  noble,  generous 
hearted  friend,"  whose  fame  "fills  the  whole  country 
and  is  cherished,  wherever  men  rely  on  law  for  safety 

19  Letter  of  May  i,  1906. 


268  REVERDY  JOHNSON 

and  protection."  John  Randolph  Tucker  spoke  of  his 
generosity  of  disposition  and  Henry  S.  Foote  paid  a 
tribute  to 

his  learning,  his  high  powers  as  a  reasoner,  his  acknowledged 
skill  as  an  advocate,  his  remarkable  moral  courage,  .... 
his  freedom  from  all  party  or  sectional  bias,  his  noble  fidelity 
in  friendship,  his  kindness  in  social  intercourse  .... 
The  disappearance  from  the  public  arena  of  one  so  gifted,  so 
pure,  so  magnanimous,  so  free  from  petty  jealousies  of  every 
kind,  from  low  and  overselfish  schemes  for  the  acquisition  of 
illicit  gain,  or  for  the  attainment  of  official  station,  may  well 
be  looked  upon  ....  as  one  of  the  severest  national 
calamities  which  have  so  lately  fallen  upon  the  American 
people. 

Last,  Garfield  spoke,  who  saw  in  Johnson  "united 
the  eminent  citizen,  the  public  servant,  and  the  great 
lawyer,"  and  who  added  that: 

More  than  any  man  we  have  known,  Mr.  Johnson  has  illus 
trated  the  truth  that  the  highest  human  symbol  of  omnipo 
tence  is  found  in  the  power  of  unremitting  hard  work.  His 
monument  was  builded  by  his  own  hands.  He  made  his  for 
tune  and  his  fame  by  powerful,  continuous,  earnest,  honest 
work.  During  the  fourteen  years  of  my  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Johnson,  I  never  looked  upon  his  face,  without  feeling  that 
he  was  a  Roman  of  the  elder  days,  the  very  embodiment  of 
rugged  force  and  of  that  high  culture  which  comes  from  con 
tinuous  persistent  work. 

This  remarkable  meeting,  where  such  notable  testi 
monies  were  given  by  such  eminent  lawyers  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  announcement  of  Johnson's  death  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  on  February  23,  when  the  Attorney- 
General  spoke  of  him  as  "one  of  the  most  eminent  law 
yers  of  this  country  and  one  of  the  very  foremost  coun 
sellors  of  this  court"  and  Chief  Justice  Waite  replied 


REVERDY  JOHNSON  269 

that  "  extensively  employed,  with  scarcely  an  interrup 
tion,  in  the  most  important  causes,"  Johnson  "was 
always  welcome  as  an  advocate,  for  he  was  always  in 
structive.  His  friendship  for  the  Court  was  open,  cor 
dial,  sincere.  We  mourn  his  loss,  both  as  counsellor  and 
friend." 

Of  the  numerous  tributes  from  all  sources,  which  ap 
peared  at  the  time  of  his  death,  two  more  may  be  cited. 
The  Nation,20  which  had  sometimes  opposed  him,  said 
that  his  death 

can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a  loss  to  public  life,  as  that  career  had 
been  practically  closed,  ....  but  the  bar  loses  in  him 
one  of  its  oldest  and  most  respected  members.  He  belonged 
to  a  past  generation  of  lawyers,  who  made  their  entrance  into 
life,  when  the  practice  of  the  law  was  a  better  school  for  sound 
thinking,  good  breeding,  and  good  morals  than  it  is  now  and 
he  used  his  opportunities  to  such  good  advantage  that  he  rose 
to  prominent  position,  which  he  held  easily  to  the  day  of  his 
death. 

John  W.  Forney,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Senate, 
and  had  often  enjoyed  his  hospitality,  wrote: 

I  knew  well  his  unrivalled  abilities  as  a  lawyer  and  as  an 
advocate,  and  I  had  many  occasions  to  prove  the  sincerity  of 
his  friendship,  the  dignity  of  his  bearing,  his  genuine  toleration, 
and  his  large  and  unexampled  benevolence.  But  it  was  in  his 
public  relation  to  great  questions  that  I  fully  appreciated  his 
intense  and  devoted  patriotism.  A  Southern  man  with  South 
ern  sympathies,  he  loved  his  country  with  unchanging  affec 
tion.  He  was  never  an  extremist  and  his  natural  and  innate 
moderation  always  made  him  an  invaluable  medium  between 
the  ultras  of  both  sides.  Never  shall  I  forget  how  often  in 
the  dark  hour  he  pleaded  for  reconciliation.  More  than  once 
he  helped  to  decide  questions  in  aid  of  the  government  and, 

20  Vol.  22,  p.  106. 


270  REVERDY   JOHNSON 

although  often  brought  into  conflict  with  the  radical  leaders, 
I  think  I  can  say  that  he  never  once  lost  his  temper.  Others 
differed  to  the  verge  of  personal  hostility.  Many  old  friends 
in  public  life  were  separated  forever  and  died  enemies,  but 
Reverdy  Johnson  was  so  consistently  a  gentleman,  belonged  so 
entirely  to  the  statesmen  of  the  better  days  of  the  Republic, 
that,  when  he  finally  retired  from  the  Senate,  he  did  so  with 
the  respect  and  the  confidence  of  both  parties.  Few  men  have 
lived  a  life  of  such  comparatively  unbroken  happiness,  of  such 
wholly  unbroken  integrity.21 

So  simple  a  character  as  Johnson's  needs  little  further 
summing  up.  He  had  the  virtues  of  the  school  of  legal 
ethics  to  which  he  belonged  and  his  faults  were  also 
those  of  that  school.  At  times,  he  was  so  carried  away 
by  his  duty  to  his  client  as  to  permit  a  slight  obscuration 
of  his  duty  to  the  state  and  his  kindliness  and  love  of 
mercy  caused  him  sometimes  not  to  be  insistent  enough 
upon  a  just  punishment  for  wrong  doers,  but  in  his 
faithful  fulfillment  of  the  duty  of  good  citizenship  we 
find  few  other  defects.  His  political  position  was  mar 
vellously  consistent  and  changed  but  little  from  year 
to  year,  because  he  had  carefully  thought  it  out  and  had 
based  it  upon  fundamental  principles. 

There  have  been  three  men  and  only  three,  to  whom 
by  common  consent  there  has  been  given  the  proud 
title,  leader  of  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  man  in  the 
future  will  attain  the  unquestioned  preeminence  which 
these  three  gained  in  the  past.  The  proud  boast  of  the 
Maryland  bar  is  that  two  of  these  three  came  from  her 
numbers,  that  William  Pinkney  was  the  first  of  them 

21  Johnson's  will,  written  by  the  late  Hon.  David  Fowler,  at  his  dictation, 
was  interpreted  by  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  Johnson  v.  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust 
Company,  79  Md.  23. 


REVERDY   JOHNSON  271 

in  time,  and  that,  after  the  death  of  the  great  orator, 
Daniel  Webster,  the  first  place  came  back  to  a  Mary- 
lander  lawyer  and  was  held  by  Reverdy  Johnson.  Yet 
this  great  title  is  only  part  of  his  right  to  remembrance. 
His  urbanity,  his  courtesy,  his  irenical  disposition,  his 
hopefulness,  his  consistency  of  purpose  were  such  that, 
in  a  time  of  great  national  crisis,  he  deserved  well  of 
the  Republic.  The  same  qualities  enabled  him  to  inau 
gurate  the  era  of  good  feeling  toward  England,  which 
has  ever  endured  and  which  bids  fair  to  endure  far  into 
the  future.  He  was  skillful  as  a  lawyer,  he  was  wise 
and  able  as  a  statesman,  but  best  of  all  it  can  be  said 
of  Reverdy  Johnson,  as  of  the  Roman  of  old  time,  that, 
in  spite  of  all  threatening  storms  and  in  the  darkest 
hour  of  peril  to  the  nation,  he  never  despaired  of  the 
Republic. 


INDEX 


Abyssinians,  229,  230. 

Adams,  C.  F.,  230,  233,  240,  253,  256. 

Adams,  John,  158,  159 

Adams,  John  Q.,  79,  179,  182. 

Admiralty  law,  36. 

Admission  of  States,  conditions  up 
on,  86. 

Agricultural  education,  33. 

Alabama  Claims,  229,  230,  234  to 
236,  239  to  243,  249,  251,  252.  255, 
256  to  258. 

Alaska,  annexation  of,  193. 

Albany  penitentiary,  94. 

Alexander,  Thomas  S.,  57. 

Alexandria,  149,  recession  to  Va.,  138, 

139,  i74- 
Allegiance,  alienable,  230,  234,  236  to 

239- 
Allegiance  to  Nation,  paramount,  45, 

56,  132,  192. 
Amendment  of  the  U.  S.  Constitution, 

48. 

Amnesty  proclamation,  70,  79. 
Andrew,  Gov.  John  A.,  76. 
Annapolis,  2,  12,  13,  25,  85,  262,  263, 

265. 

Annapolis,  Naval  Academy  at,  87,  88, 
i93- 

Annapolis  post  office,  19. 

Annexation  of  territory,  46,  49,  124, 
175- 

Appeals,  143,  222. 

Appropriations,  expenditures,  of  89. 

Argyll,  Duchess  of,  234. 

Arkansas  swamp  lands,  42,  174;  re 
construction,  86,  223  to  225. 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  defended,  82. 

Army  regulations,  228. 


Bacon,  Rev.  Thomas,  2. 

Balch,  L.  P.  W.,  13. 

Baldwin,  Roger  S.,  48. 

Baltimore,  3, 12  13, 19,  23, 38, 96, 179 
262,  265;  politics  in,  from  1857  to 
1860,  41;  union  meeting  in,  44: 
fighting  on  April  19,  1861,  50,  53 
71,  207;  troops  in,  52;  prisons  in,  71 
103,  107;  wharf  privileges  in,  112; 
courtesy  on  Johnson's  leaving  fot 
Europe,  224. 

B.  &  O.  R.  R.,  6,  u,  22,  93,  112,  141, 
179,  187,  227. 

Baltimore  County,  56. 

Bank  of  Maryland,  n,  12. 

Bank  riots,  12. 

Bankruptcy  law,  148,  185,  186. 

Banneker.  Benjamin,  94. 

Bartol,  J.  L.,  265. 

Bayard,  James  A.,  66. 

Bayard,  T.  J.,  263. 

Bel  Air,  12,  13. 

Belgium,  97. 

Belligerency,  62,  84, 98,  128, 156,  229, 
240,  242,  250,  253,  254. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  55. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  24. 

Berry,  John  S.,  57. 

Betting  by  army  officers,  228. 

Bigelow,  John,  193. 

Bingham,  H.  A.,  in. 

Birkenhead,  245. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  63,  113,  129,  165. 

Blair,  Gen.  Frank  P.,  83. 

Blair,  Montgomery,  37,  117. 

Bond,  Hugh  Lennox,  16,  in,  260. 

Bonds  of  U.  S.,  89. 

Book  publishing,  tax  on,  no. 

Border  States,  46,  85,  103. 


273 


274 


INDEX 


Boston,  43. 

Bowie,  Mary  Mackall,  3. 

Bowie,  Oden,  215. 

Bowie,  Gov.  Robert,  3. 

Bowie,  Thomas  Contee,  3. 

Bradbury,  James  Ware,  Senator,  38. 

Bradford,  A.  W.,  46,  63,  64,  72,  75,  88, 

184,  204,  211,  261,  265. 
Brazil,  96. 

Breckenridge,  John  B.,  210. 
Brengle  Home  Guard,  52. 
Brewer,  Nicholas,  2. 
Bridge,  power  of  federal  government 

to  construct,  113. 
Brght,  John,    247,  248. 
Brodhead,  Richard,  112. 
Brooklyn,  64. 
Brooks,  Preston,  39. 
Brown  v  Maryland,  n,  91. 
Brown,  B.  Gratz,  172. 
Brown,  George  William,  265. 
Brown,  John,  40,  50,  157. 
Browning,  Orville  H.,  247. 
Buchanan,  Franklin,  83,  214. 
Buchanan,  James,  39,  181,  204,  210, 

211,  212. 
Buckalew,  Charles  R.,  150,  169,  208, 

211,  213. 

Burke,  Edmund,  68. 
Burnside,  Ambrose,  82. 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  54,  58,  59,  88. 

Cabinet  officers,  position  of,  147,  158, 

161,  201. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  22,  52,  80,  148,  179. 
California,  23,  26,  30,  34,  42,  96,  112, 

225. 

Cairns,  Lord,  37. 
Campbell,  J.  M.,  37,  41,  109. 
Cameron,  Simon,  54,  215. 
Canada,  98. 
Canal  tolls,  92. 
Carlile,  John  S.,  113. 
Carmichael,  Judge  R.  B.,  184,  215. 


Caroline  County,  103. 
Carpenter,  Matthew  H.,  116,  266. 
Carroll,  John  Lee,  259,  263. 
Carroll,  Thomas  King,  57. 
Cass,  Lewis,  25,  32. 
Centennial  Exposition,   263. 
Chambersburg,  150. 
Chandler,  Zachariah,  90,  177. 
Chapman,  Gen'l.  John  G.,  20. 
Charleston  (S.  C.),  40,  43,  211. 
Chase,  S.  P.,   17,   52,  89,   132,   203, 

220. 
Chesapeake  Bay,  steamships  on,  55; 

land  about,  95. 
Chestertown,  71. 
Chicasaws,  188. 
Chinese,  173,  180. 
Choctaws,  188. 
Christianity,  42. 
Citizenship  of   U.  S.,  119,  123,  126, 

134,  given  to  residents  in  annexed 

territory,  124. 

Civil  rights  bill,  123,  130,  168. 
Civil  Service,  160,  162,  228. 
Claggett,  T.  J.,  54. 
Clarendon,  Lord,  241,  242,  253. 
Clay,  Henry,  19,  159,  179;  opinion  of 

Taney,  77;  character,  218. 
Clayton,  John  M.,  18. 
Clerks   in   departments,    salaries   of, 

150,  162. 

Cobb,  Howell,  40,  213. 
Cobb,  John  A.,  44. 
Collamer,  Jacob,  48,  81,  109,  138. 
Colorado,  admission  as  state  proposed, 

147,  171. 

Columbia,  S.  C.,  burning  of,  133. 
Commerce,  Interstate,  in,  139,  140. 
Confederate  States,  Status  of,  85. 
Confederate  States  not  recognized  by 

foreign  powers,  65. 
Congress,  adjournment  of,  177,  216. 
Congress,  power  of,  68,  70. 
Congressional  Globe,  97. 


INDEX 


275 


Conkling,  Roscoe,  198,  205,  214. 
Connecticut,  93. 
Connellsville  R.  R.,  141. 
Conness,  John,  183,  184,  214,  215. 
Conservative  Unionist  Convention  of 

1866, 151. 
Constitution,  loose    construction    of, 

73,  QO. 

Constitution  in  Confederacy,  85. 

Constitution  to  be  obeyed  by  legisla 
ture,  92. 

Constitution  of  U.  S.,  eulogy  of,  39, 

47- 

Constitution  of  U.  S.,  acts  on  citizens, 
45,  46,  56,  67,  87,  107,  131,  217. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  neces 
sary  vote  upon,  96. 

Contracts,  obligation  of,  225. 

Consular  service,  97. 

Cooke,  Jay,  89. 

Copyright  library,  228. 

Corporation  in  District  of  Columbia, 
138,  179,  227. 

Corporations  not  disloyal,  177. 

Cotton  tax,  225. 

Court  of  Claims,  189, 

Courts  martial,  103. 

Cowpens,  213. 

Cox,  C.  C.,  265. 

Cox,  Jacob  D.,  198. 

Cox,  S.  S.,  50,  127,  200. 

Crawford,  G.  W.,  Secretary  of  War,  35. 

Creswell,  John  A.  J.,  57,  71,  122,  123, 
137,  180,  181,  184,  187,  204. 

Criminal  law,  97. 

Crisfield,  J.  J.,  46,  49. 

Crittenden,  John  M.,  19,  36. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  192. 

Cumberland  Road,  in. 

Cummings,  Rev.,  117. 

Commutation  for  drafted  men,  84. 

Currency,  90,  91. 

Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  17,  38;  friend 
ship  for,  39,  117,  267. 


Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  37,  267. 
Curtis,  Gen.  Samvel  R.,  97. 
Customs  administration  in  rebel  states, 
128,  129. 

Davis,  David,  261. 

Davis,  Garrett,  68, 69,  81, 97, 101, 184, 

214. 

Davis,  Henry  Winter,  i,  3,  57,  139. 
Davis,  Jefferson,  56,  59,  100,  156,  157, 

177,  208. 
Davis-Wade  plan  of  reconstruction, 

65,  109. 

Debt  of  United  States,  89,  90,  92. 
Debts  of  Confederate  States,  193. 
Deficiency  bill,  89. 
Democratic  party,  Johnson's  opinion 

of,  29;  his  affiliation  with,  39  40,  43, 

143,  151,  169    262,  263. 
Dennis,  J.  Upshur,  7,  15,  16,  17,  18, 

35,  259,  261. 
Denmark,  35. 

Departments  of  government,  separa 
tion  of,  163. 

Dickerson,  E.  M.,  36,  267. 
Dickins,  Asbury,  229. 
Diplomatic  service,  97. 
Direct  tax,  128,  137,  148,  153. 
Disloyalty  defined,  219. 
Disraeli,  Benjamin,  236. 
District  of  Columbia,  94, 112, 138, 178, 

179,  215,  216,  227. 
Dix,  John  A.,  54. 
Donaldson,  Thomas,  265. 
Doolittle,  James  R.,  206,  208. 
Dorchester  County,  113. 
Dorsey,  Walter,  4. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  40,  43.  174,  214. 
Drake,  Charles  D.,  208,  211,  214,  216, 

217. 

Dred  Scott  Case,  37,  40,  43,  47,  49,  77, 

113,  119,  123,  267. 
Duelling,  15,  18. 


276 


INDEX 


Eastern  Shore,  71,  122. 

Economy  in  administration  of  govern 
ment,  75. 

Edmunds,  George  F.,  159,  160,  174, 
198,  205,  206,  210  266,  267. 

Electoral  votes,  counting  of,  108,  con 
gressional  power  over,  109. 

Ellicott  City,  6. 

Emancipation  of  slaves  in  Maryland, 
32,  73,  76,  79,  88,  105,  106,  180. 

Emancipation  proclamation,  64,  73, 
79,  106. 

Eminent  domain,  96,  97. 

Emory,  W.  H.,  200. 

England  in  Mexican  war,  23. 

England,  Oregon  difficulty,  22. 

England,  Johnson's  visits  to,  18,  37, 
263. 

Enlistment  for  3  years,  84. 

Enlistment  of  100  day  volunteers,  82, 

83- 

Enrollment  act,  69,  70. 
Ecuador,  229. 
Ericsson,  Capt.  John,  85. 
Everett,  Edward,  50. 
Evidence  of  parties  to  suit,  9,  57,  77; 

of  negroes,  76. 
Ewing,  Thomas,  50. 
Express  companies,  tax  on,  92. 

Farragut,   David  Glasgow,  Admiral, 

64. 

Federal  officers,  protection  of,  143. 
Fees  from  clients  while  Senator,  54,  66. 
Fenians,  150,  234,  237,  250. 
Ferry,  Orris  S.,  211,  220. 
Fertilizers,  tax  on,  no. 
Fessenden,  William  P.,  62,  92,  97, 118, 

134,  141,  162,  182,  187,  209,  210. 
Field,  David  Dudley,  117. 
Filmore,  Millard,  50,  146. 
Findlay,  John  V.  L.,  57,  262. 
Fish,  Hamilton,  253,  257. 
Florida,  the,  255. 


Florida,  reconstruction  of.  225.  lands 

in,  263. 

Floyd,  John  B.,  182,  213. 
Foot,  Solomon,  133. 
Foote,  Henry  S.,  267. 
Foreigners,  property  of,  58. 
Forney,  John  W.,  268. 
Fort  Delaware,  63. 
Fort  Fisher,  103. 
Fort  Pillow  massacre,  83. 
Fort  Sumter,  46,  53,  103,  181,  212 
Fortification  of  ports,  103. 
Foundry  Methodist  Graveyard,  179. 
Fourteenth    Amendment,    119,    129, 

137,  164,  173,  196,  206,  209,  220. 
Fowler,  David,  270. 
Fowler,  Joseph  S.   211. 
Fox,  G.  V.,  no. 

France,  250;  in  Mexican  war,  23. 
Frederick  City,  10,  13,  52. 
Freedman's   Bureau,    103     121,    149, 

168. 

Frelinghuysen,  Theodore  F.,  206,  266. 
Fugitive  slave  acts,  80. 

Galphin  claim,  35. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  267. 

Garland,  A.  H.,  42,  116,  117,  135. 

General  Assembly  of  Maryland,  9, 
56,  264. 

General  welfare  clause,  in. 

Geneva  award,  254. 

Georgia,  reconstruction  of,  225. 

Georgia,  Sherman's  campaign  in,  98. 

Germany,  35. 

Gettysburg,  battle  of,  56,  65,  257. 

Geyer,  Henry  S.,  37. 

Ghieselen,  Reverdy,  2. 

Giles,  Wm.  Fell,  Judge,  17. 

Gill,  R.  W.,  14. 

Gilpin,  Henry  D.,  36. 

Gladstone,  William  E.,  245. 

Gold  in  U.  S.  treasury,  89,  90;  specu 
lation  in,  89,  93. 


INDEX 


277 


Gold,  tax  on,  no. 

Goldsborough,  W.  T.,  46. 

Gooding  v  Oliver,  37. 

Granger,  Francis,  19. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  82,  84,  239,  248, 
250,  251,  261,  262. 

Granvil'e,  Lord,  252. 

Great  Britain,  friendship  for,  230,  243, 
245,  249. 

Great  Britain,  reception  of  Johnson  in, 
236. 

Great  Britain,  peace  of  1815  with,  39; 
neutrality  of,  98,  150,  214,  239,  256; 
treaty  of  1817  with,  101;  treaty  of 
1853  with,  239,  246,  249,  250,  257. 

Great  Lakes,  101. 

Greeley,  Horace,  261. 

Greenmount  Cemetery,  265. 

Grimes,  Gen.,  23. 

Grimes,  James  W.,  73,  202. 

Guarantee  Clause  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  154,  171,  173,  195,  219. 

Guerillas,  punishment  of,  84. 

Gunboat  contractors,  payment  of,  58. 

Guthrie,  James,  50. 

Gwinn,  C.  J.  M.,  54,  262. 

Habeas  corpus,  suspension  of  writ  of, 
51,  115,  144. 

Hale,  John  P.,  65,  69,  113,  115. 

Halleck,  H.  W.,  82. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  19, 101, 155, 160. 

Hamilton,  Andrew,  i. 

Hammond,  William  H.,  63. 

Hampton,  Wade,  133,  134. 

Harding,  George,  36. 

Harlan,  James,  71. 

Harper,  Robert  Goodloe,  4. 

Harris,  Thomar,  10. 

Harvey,  James  E.,  Minister  to  Portu 
gal,  147,  215. 

Hayne,  Robert  Y.,  45. 

Henderson,  John  B.,  36,  106,  202,  203. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  137,  206. 


Hicks,  Thomas  H.,  46,  52,  56,  57,  113 

to  115. 

Higgins,  Edwin,  3,  4,  19,  263,  265. 
Hooker,  Gen.  Joseph,  82. 
Houston,  Samuel,  15. 
Howard,  Frank  Key,  54. 
Howard,  Jacob  M.,  139, 175,  181,  184, 

198,  205,  206,  211,  213. 
Howard,  John  Eager.  213. 
Howard,  O.  O.,  178. 
Howe,  T.  O.,  126   129,  135,  157,  205, 

206,  214. 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  109. 
Hunter,    Asst.    Sec.    of    State,    229, 

239- 

Immigrant's  passage  money,  148. 
Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  198 
Income  tax,  92,  102,  no. 
Indians,  enlistment  of,  62,  84;  status 

of,  123,  134,  189,  194. 
Inhabitant,  124. 
Insane,  enlistment  of,  102. 
Interior  Department  of,  34. 
Internal  improvements,  190. 
Internal  revenue  taxes,  92,  93,   no, 

226. 

Iowa,  banking  in,  24;  troops,  71. 
Irish  famine,  149. 
Iron  clad  vessels,  103. 
Iron,  railroad,  import  tax  on,  93. 

Jackson  Andrew,  31,  125,  145,  158, 
159,  161,  182,  218. 

Jay  treaty,  255,  257. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  78,  219. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  86,  120,  121,  126; 
vetoes  civil  rights  bill,  124,  144, 
145;  151  to  153,  155,  159  to  161, 
167,  170,  171,  177,  182,  193,  195 
to  198,  218,  224,  247,  262;  carries 
out  Lincoln's  policy,  144. 

Johnson,  Deborah,  2. 


278 


INDEX 


Johnson,  John,  Jr.,  2. 
Johnson,  John,  Sr.,  2 
Johnson,  Mary  Mackall  Bowie,  3,  55. 
Johnson,  Reverdy,  Jr.,  14. 
Johnson,  William  Cost,  20,  21. 
Johnson-Clarendon   treaty,   see   Ala 
bama  claims. 
Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  215. 
Jones,  Walter,  n. 
Judges,  election  of,  31. 
Judicial  system  of  U.  S.  in  South,  128, 

133,   IS3i   222. 

Jurors,  228. 

Jury,  negroes  on,  216. 

Jury  trial,  97,  103,  148. 

Kennedy,  John  P.,  20,  21,  54. 
Kentucky,  68;  federal  interference  in, 

64,  103;  invasion  of,  69;  tobacco, 

93;  resolves  of  1799,  219. 
Kerr,  Charles  G.,  263. 
Key,  Judge  Edmund,  3. 
Key  West,  95. 
Kirkwood,  Samuel  J.,  130. 
Know  Nothing  party,  40. 
Ku  Klux  Klan,  260. 

Laird,  John,  245. 

Laird's  rams,  256. 

Lands,  public,  22,  23,  25,  42,  96, 
190. 

Lands,  can  federal  government  buy 
for  freedmen,  121. 

Lane,  James  H.,  of  Kansas,  123. 

Latimer,  W.  K.,  42. 

Latrobe,  John  H.  B.,  5,  151. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  214,  215. 

Leeds,  243. 

Legal  tender  notes,  188;  constitution 
ality  of,  91. 

Legislature  of  Maryland,  See  General 
Assembly. 

Le  Grand,  J.  C.,  44. 

Lieber,  Francis,  101. 


Lincoln,  Abraham,  36,  46,  50,  52,  53, 
58,  59,  63,  75,  100;  141,  161,  212;  in 
presidential  campaign  of  1860,  43; 
Johnson  defends  in  1861,  51;  proc 
lamation  of  1861,  128;  Johnson 
breaks  with,  in  1864, 64;  denounced, 
69,  81,  109;  power  supported,  82, 
reconstruction  policy,  86, 104;  pow 
er  over  treaties,  101;  appointment 
of  Lieutenant  General,  82;  refuses 
exchange  of  prisoners,  102;  acts  in 
regard  to  Maryland,  103;  appoint 
ments  by,  107;  early  sympathy  with 
secession,  109,  126;  signs  Thir 
teenth  Amendment,  no;  assassi 
nated,  115. 

Liquor  taxed,  92. 

Liverpool,  240,  245,  256. 

Loan  bill  of  1865,  in. 

London,  240,  242. 

Louisiana,  memorials  from,  in  1847, 
24;  exhausted  in  1864,  70;  recon 
struction  in,  104  to  106,  163,  181 
to  262. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  251. 

Luther  v  Borden,  69. 

Lynch,  A.  A.,  54. 

McCardle  case,  222. 
McClellan,  George  B.,  56,  64,  82,  230. 
McCormick,  Rev.  Thomas,  10. 
McCormick  reaper,  36. 
McCulloh  v  Maryland,  91. 
McCulloh,  Hugh,  247. 
McDougall,  James  A.,  113,  160. 
McKim,  Isaac,  9. 
McLane  Louis,  u. 
McLean,  John,  34,  36,  38,  in. 
McMahon,  J.  V.  L.,  n,  12;  testimo 
nial  to  Johnson,  14. 
Maddox,  blockade  runner,  65. 
Madison,  James,  109,  125,  130. 
Magruder,  A.  C.,  n. 
Maher,  19. 


INDEX 


279 


Mail  transportation,  96. 

Mails,  secrecy  of,  104. 

Maine,  108,  129,  141. 

Mangum,  Willie  P.,  34. 

Marbury  v  Madison,  146. 

Marcy,  William  L.,  160. 

Marine  hospitals,  228. 

Married  women,  188. 

Martin,  Luther,  4,  10. 

Maryland,  border  State,  185. 

Maryland,  constitution  of  1864,  65, 
88,  103,  105,  106. 

Maryland  constitutional  convention 
of  1867,  151,  154,  185,  197. 

Maryland  elections,  70,  103,  115. 

Maryland,  federal  interference  in,  64, 
71,  72,  103, 

Maryland,  has  it  republican  govern 
ment,  215. 

Maryland,  lawabiding,  166. 

Maryland,  political  campaign  of  1866, 

151,  J53- 

Maryland,  politics  in,  1867,  181,  185, 
196. 

Maryland,  politics  in  1876,  262,  263. 

Maryland,  share  in  B.  &  O.  R.  R.,  1 1 2. 

Maryland,  tobacco,  93. 

Maryland,  Union  sentiment,  in,  44, 
52,  53,  57,  59,  62,  71,  72,  74  76,  77, 
88,  114,  137,  207,  212  to  215,  219. 

Mason  &  Slidell,  seizure  of,  98. 

Massachusetts,  86, 106,  enlistments  in, 
74,  76;  in  1812,  81. 

Matthews,  R.  Stockett,  57,  265. 

May,  Henry,  54. 

Meade,  George  B.,  65,  82. 

Meredith,  William,  n. 

Meredith,  W.  M.,  Secretary  of  Treas 
ury,  35- 

Merrick,  William  D.,  20,  21. 

Merrimac,  The,  85. 

Merriman  ex  parte,  51. 

Metcalf  v.  Brooklyn  Life  Ins.  Co.,  263. 

Methodist  Church  case,  36. 

Mexican  independence,  37. 


Mexican  territory,  annexation  of,  30. 
Mexican  war,  23,  25  to  30,  32. 
Mexico,  danger  of  war  in  1865,  145. 
Mexico,  Maximilian's  empire  in,  194. 
Mileage  for  Congressmen,  148. 
Military  officers,  indemnity  to,  189. 
Military  rule,  225. 
Military  tribunals,  103,  107,  115.  116, 

136,   144,   220. 

Milligan,  ex  parte,  116,  144. 

Minnesota  lands,  96. 

Miranda,  Juan,  96. 

Mississippi,  exhausted  in  1864,  70. 

Missouri  Compromise  and  the  Dred 

Scott  decision,  77,  123;  Pinkney's 

speech,    86. 

Missouri  constitution,  217. 
Money  bills    amendment  by  Senate, 

112. 

Monitor,  The,  85. 
Monroe,  James,  in. 
Montana  negro  suffrage  proposed  in, 

77- 

Moore,  W.  H.,  200. 
Morrill,  Lot  M.,  142,  179,  207. 
Morris,  John  B.,  14. 
Morton,  Oliver  P.,  of  Indiana,   184, 

198,  207,  211,  219. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  162,  257. 
Mt.  Vernon  Association,  227. 

National  Bank  Stock,  taxation  of,  90, 

91. 
Naturalization,  40,  98, 124  to  126,  224, 

230,  235- 

Naval  pension  trust  fund,  228. 
Navigable  streams,  112. 
Navy  on  Great  Lakes,  101. 
Nebraska,  171;  admission,  172,  174. 
Negroes,  capacity  of  94,  120,  122,  124, 

130. 

Negroes,  cruelty  to,  38. 
Negroes,  enlistment  of,  62,  69  to  73, 

75,  76,  83,  84,  99,  102,  137,  177,  178. 


280 


INDEX 


Negroes,  growing  cotton,  226. 

Negroes  in  D.  C.,  180;  not  to  hold 
office  there,  223. 

Negroes,  in  mail  service,  76. 

Negroes  in  street  railway  cars,  94,  227. 

Negroes,  need  of  protection  in  Mary 
land,  121,  122. 

Negroes,  not  citizens,  123. 

Negroes,  persons,  124,  130. 

Negroes,  protection  of  by  federal  gov 
ernment,  125. 

Negroes,  relation  with  whites  when 
freed,  81. 

Negroes,  service  sold  in  Maryland, 
1866,  180. 

Negroes,  status  of  in  general,  119,  120; 
in  Maryland,  69,  72,  122,  130,  135. 

Negro  suffrage  in  Alexandria,  174. 

Negro  suffrage  in  D.  C.,  179,  180,  216. 

Negro  suffrage  in  Maryland,  185. 

Negro  suffrage  in  Montana,  77. 

Negro  suffrage  in  Nebraska,  171. 

Negro  suffrage,  in  seceded  States,  106, 
107,  119,  129,  135,  154,  176. 

Negro  suffrage,  not  in  free  States,  33, 
130,  165,  173,  180. 

Nelson,  Thomas,  Judge,  136. 

Neutrality  law,  35,  98,  188,  229,  255. 

Nevada,  112. 

New  Jersey  Legislature,  142. 

New  Madrid,  149. 

New  Mexico,  26,  96. 

New  Orleans,  58,  59,  181. 

New  Orleans,  Dutch  Consul  at,  58. 

Newport,  R.  I.,  Naval  Academy  at,  88. 

New  York  Tribune,  263. 

Norris,  William  H.,  8,  41. 

North  Carolina,  220,  bonds,  261. 

Northern  Central  R.  R.,  141. 

Northern  States  partly  to  blame  for 
war,  131. 

Nye,  James  Warren,  of  Nevada,  181, 
215. 


Oath  of  loyalty,  65,  71, 104, 115  to  117, 
135,  151,  154,  164,  186,  211,  214, 
217;  for  senators,  66,  68;  import  of, 
112. 

Ohio,  220. 

Ord,  Edward  O.  C.,  General,  222. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  106. 

Oregon  boundary,  22. 

Oregon  territory,  32,  33,  165,  171. 

Original  Package  doctrine,  n. 

Pacificus  letters  of  Hamilton,  101. 

Palmer,  Roundell,  254. 

Panama  Railroad,  34. 

Parker,  John  A.,  252. 

Parkersburg  Branch  Railroad,  260. 

Patterson,  David  T.,  137,  182. 

Peabody,  George,  153. 

Peace  hoped  for,  100. 

Peace  mission,  104. 

Peace  Congress  of  1861,  46  to  50,  97, 

212. 

Pearce,  James  Alfred,  20. 
Peck,  H.  W.  H.,  60. 
Peckham  of  New  York,  116. 
Pennsylvania,  24. 
Pension  agents,  157. 
Percival,  Captain,  34. 
Peters,  J.  A.,  254,  256. 
Pettigru's  law  library,  149. 
Phelps,  John  W.,  Gen.,  59. 
Phelps,  Charles  E.,  8,  16. 
Philadelphia,  Conservative  Union  con 

vention  at,  151. 
Phillips,  Philip,  267. 
Pierce,  Franklin  B.,  50. 
Pinkney,  William,  5,  86,  270. 
Police  power,  n,  123. 
Polk,  James  K.,  19,  20,  23,  26,  29,  31. 
Pomeroy,  Samuel  C.,  198. 
Porter,  David  D.,  64. 
Porter,  Fitz  John,  55. 
Portland,  Maine,  149. 
Post  roads,  in. 


INDEX 


28l 


Potomac,  24. 

Poultney,  Evan,  n. 

President  of  the  United  States,  term 
of  office,  162,  power  of,  217,  218; 
veto  power  of,  30, 125, 171;  appoint 
ing  power  of,  30,  144,  158;  power 
to  suspend  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
51;  commander  of  army,  162,  163; 
power  to  declare  rebellion  ended, 
108;  power  to  pardon,  109,  135,  154 
to  156;  power  of  removal  from  of 
fice,  120, 145, 146, 158, 159, 160,  201; 
power  to  recognize  state  govern 
ment,  131. 

Presidential  election  of  1864,  87. 

Price,  William,  20,  57. 

Prisoners,  exchange  of,  102. 

Prisoners,  federal,  94,  101. 

Prisoners,  rebel,  101,  102. 

Prize  cases,  67,  79,  98,  101,  127,  195. 

Promotion  of  wounded  officer,  84. 

Protective  tariff  duties,  92,  94,  171, 
187,  226,  261. 

Prussia,  King  of,  239. 

Puget  Sound  boundary,  234  to  236, 
238  to  242. 

Punch,  cartoon  in,  246. 

Quarantine  laws,  140. 

Quicksilver  duty  on,  92,  mine  in  Cali- 

'  fornia,  96. 
Quorum  of  Senate,  96,  199. 

Railroads,  112,  138,  140,  179,  195,  260. 
Railroads,  land  grants  to,  96. 
Randall,  Alexander,  2,  151,  265. 
Rebels,  104. 

Rebels,  disfranchisement  of,  192. 
Reconstruction  of  Arkansas,  86. 
Reconstruction  of  Louisana,  104. 
Reconstruction,  act  of  1866,  165. 
Reconstruction,  act  of  1867,  154,  155. 
Reconstruction,    supplementary    act, 
iSS,  i?5,  T76,  218. 


Reconstruction,  Congressional  plan, 
153,  1 68,  218. 

Reconstruction,  Davis- Wade  plan,  65. 

Reconstruction,  Johnson's  theory  of, 
63,  68,  86,  87,  105,  107,  108,  119, 
120,  121,  126,  127,  131  to  134,  136, 
151,  153,  163,  165  to  169,  175,  176. 

193,  194,  22O,  221,  224. 

Reconstruction,  joint  committee  on, 

120,  133,  137. 
Reconstruction,  Lincoln's  policy,  86, 

153,  I59,  168. 
Reconstruction,  Sumner's  theory,  66, 

86,87,  105,  132,  152,  175. 
Removal  of  deposits  from  U.  S.  Bank, 

10. 
Reports  of  Congressional  debates,  25, 

97,  150,  189. 
Resignation  of  army  and  navy  officers, 

83- 

Revolution,  right  of,  80,  173. 
Richardson,  George  R.,  18. 
Richmond,  72,  104. 
Rider  to  appropriation  bill,  146. 
Ridgely,  Andrew  Sterrett,  170. 
Right  of  persons,  172. 
Riots  of  1835,  12. 

Rock  Island  arsenal,  97,  bridge,  m. 
Roebuck,  John  Arthur,  243,  244. 
Roman,  J.  D.,  46. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  40. 
Round  Bay,  150. 
Russell,  Lord  John,  229,  254. 

St.  Alban's  raid,  98. 

St.  John's  College,  2,  264. 

Sales,  tax  on,  no. 

San  Francisco,  42,  103,  150. 

San  Juan  Island,  see  Puget  Sound. 

Sangster,  Lawrence,  54. 

Santa  Anna,  26. 

Saulsbury,  Willard,  85,  94,  184. 

Saunders,  George,  44. 

Saving  banks,  tax  on,  92. 


282 


INDEX 


Schenck,  Robert  C,  Gen.,  83. 
Schley,  Frederick,  185. 
Schoolcraft,  Henry  Rowe,  94. 
Schurz,  Carl,  177. 
Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  82. 
Secession,  Calhoun  upon,  22,  52. 
Secession,  danger  of,  32.  44,  48,  49,  53, 

56. 
Secession,  effect  of,  105,  108,  121,  127, 

128,  135,  139,  152,  1 60. 
Secessionists,    Johnson's    efforts    for, 

54,  55,  58,  65. 

Secret  agents  of  executive,  227. 
Seddon,  John  A.,  48,  49. 
Selborne,  Lord,  254. 
Selden,  Henry  R.,  36. 
Senator,  admission  of,  141,  181,  204. 
Senators,  credentials  of,  225. 
Senator,  election  pf,  142. 
Senator,  expulsion  of,  129. 
Senator,  not  civil  officer,  68. 
Senate  of  Maryland,  8. 
Seward,  William  H.,  34,  40,  58,  193, 

215,  234,  236  to  241,  246  to  248,  250, 

251. 

Sheffield,  243. 
Shepherd,  Alexander  Robey,  Gov.  of 

D.  C.,  263. 

Shepley,  George  F.,  Gov.,  59. 
Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  64. 
Sherman,  John,  132,  134  182,  184,  210. 
Sherman,  William  T.,  60,  98,  133,  134, 

198,  200. 

Shipbuilding,  226. 
Shipping  favored,  188. 
Sickles,  Daniel  B.,  192. 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  visitation  of  by  offi 
cials,  112. 

Slave  trade,  interstate,  81. 
Slave  trade,  foreign,  106. 
Slavery  abolition  of  in  Maryland,  65. 
Slavery  in  D.  C.,  179. 
Slavery,  extension  of  through  Mexi- 

ican  war,  27,  30. 


Slavery  in  Oregon,  32,  33. 

Slavery  in  territories,  32,  47,  49. 

Slavery,  cause  of  the  war,  56. 

Slavery,  Johnson's  opinion  of,  in  1847, 
28,  30;  in  1848,  32,  33;  in  1859,  41; 
in  1860,  43;  in  1864,  63,  64,  67,  70, 
73  to  75,  77,  95,  99;  in  1865,  106, 

107,    122. 

Slavery,  Johnson's  view  as  to  its  ter 
mination,  78,  79,  99,  220,  225. 

Slaves,  without  family  relations  or 
education,  74. 

Smith,  General  Samuel,  13. 

Smuggling,  148. 

Somerset  County,  103. 

Soule",  Pierre,  58. 

South  American  trade,  96,  229. 

South  Carolina,  secession  of,  44  to  46, 
74,  128,  136,  180,  183,  184,  197- 

Speed,  James,  117. 

Sprague,  William,  203. 

Squatter  sovereignty,  40,  43. 

Stamp  tax,  92. 

Stanley,  Lord,  234,  236  to  240,  241, 
245- 

Stansberry,  Henry,  15,  117. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  36,  88,  141,  167, 
200  to  202. 

Stark,  Benjamin,  182. 

State  Banks,  tax  on,  91,  92,  no. 

State,  characteristic  of,  190,  191. 

State  sovereignty,  80,  107,  112,  125, 
126,  216,  224. 

Statehood,  qualifications  for,  148. 

States,  essential  to  nation,  132,  152. 

States,  equality  of,  86,  106,  172,  174, 
224. 

Steamship  subsidies,  96. 

Steiner,  Lewis  H.,  264. 

Stephen,  Leslie,  250. 

Stephen,  Judge,  2. 

Stephens,  A.  H.,  109,  207. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  36,  195. 


INDEX 


283 


Stewart,  William  M.,  183,  206,  208, 

211. 

Stockton,  John  P.,  141,  142,  200. 

Stokes,  William  B.,  210. 

Street  Railway  cars,  negroes  in,  94; 
on  Sunday,  95. 

Strieker,  Gen.  John,  8. 

Sub  treasury  bill,  25. 

Suffrage,  a  privilege,  120,  130,  216. 

Suffrage,  women's,  178. 

Suffrage  in  States,  105,  130,  135,  161, 
166,  1 80,  195,  224. 

Sugar,  tax  on,  226. 

Sumner,  Charles,  105,  106,  112,  113, 
118,  130,  131,  142,  160  to  163,  174, 
175,  177,  1 80,  185,  186,  194,  195, 
200,  209,  213,  215  216,  223,  234  to 
236,  238,  247,  248,  250,  252,  256, 
257;  friendship  for,  39;  conflicts 
with,  62, 67,  76,  77, 80, 81, 86,  87,  91, 
95,  1 03,  follows  his  opinion,  104;  his 
opinion  of  Johnson. 

Sunday  observance,  95. 

Supreme %  Court  of  U.  S.,  31,  33,  44, 
143,  162,  166,  185,  189,  209;  power 
to  declare  laws  void,  importance  of, 

2l8,   222. 

Surratt,  Mrs.,  115,  116. 
Swann,  Richard,  19. 
Swann,  Thomas,  88,  123,  154,  215. 
Switzerland,  239. 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  10, 11,31,  38,  40,  47, 
51,  77,  H3,  144,  157,  158,  189. 

Tariff  of  1846,  24;  of  1 86 1,  90;  of  1864, 
93;  of  1867,  187. 

Taxation,  necessary,  90;  of  goods  in 
bond,  90. 

Taxes,  collection  of,  148. 

Taxing  power  of  U.  S.,  92. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  34,  35,  158. 

Tea,  tax  on,  93. 

Tennessee,  86,  137. 

Tenure  of  office  act,  159,  161,  201. 


Territories,  laws  in,  34,  224. 
Texas,  annexation  of,  23,  26,  29,  32. 
Texas,  navy  of,  30,  34. 
Thirteenth  Amendment,  63,   78,   79, 

81,  99,  100;  signed  by  Lincoln,  no. 
Thomas,  Francis,  185. 
Thomas,  Philip  Francis,  181,  204. 
Thompson,  Jacob,  213. 
Tipton,  Thomas  Warren,  208,    211. 
Tobacco,  tax  on,  93. 
Toombs,  Robert,  100. 
Towson,  151. 
Transport  of  troops,  103. 
Treason,  69,  TOO,  128   135    156. 
Treasury  notes  in  1846,  24. 
Treaty  of  1854  with  England,  37. 
Treaties,  President's  power  over,  101, 
Trumbull,  Lyman,  62,  97,  104,   113, 

118,  121,  123,  124,  126,  141,  145, 

149,  164,  182,  198,  205,  206,  209, 

213- 
Tucker,  John  Randolph,  268. 

Union  feeling  of  Johnson  in  1848,  31; 
in  1860,  42;  in  1861,  56;  in  1864,  75, 
80,  81,  91,  93;  in  1865, 100,  107,  109; 
in  1866,  129,  131,  138;  in  1868,  168, 
173,  182,  219. 

Union  men  in  Confederate  states,  67 
79,  80,  85,  175. 

Union,  permanence  of,  97. 

Union  Pacific  Railroad,  227,  228. 

United  States  Bank,  removal  of  de 
posits,  10,  158. 

Upper  Maryborough,  3. 

Upshur,  Judge,  19. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  19,  32,  44,  50. 

Venezuela,  149. 

Vice  President,  power  of,  in  electoral 

count,  1 08. 

Vickers,  Harrison  W.,  215,  231. 
Victoria,  Queen,  214,  236,  237,  250. 
Virginia's  secession,  191,  192,  217. 


284 


INDEX 


Wade,  Benjamin  F.,  99,  113,  132, 133, 

198,  199. 

Waite,  Morrison  R.,  267. 
Walker,  A.,  59. 
Wallace,  Gen.  Lew,  72,  103. 
Wallis,  S.  Teackle,  6,  41,  265. 
War  of  1812,  2,  22,  81,  108,  129. 
War  power,  62,  67,  79,  101,  108,  109, 

121,  127,  152,  165,  igi,  195. 
War,  probable  duration  of,  70,  72,  84, 

87,  98,  100,  104. 
Waring  v.  Clarke,  36. 
Washington,  George,  75,  95,  107,  155, 

220. 
Washington  City,  39;  registration  of 

voters  in,  94;  arsenal,  149;  charter, 

223;  named,  240,  242,  243. 
Washington  Branch  Railroad,  267. 
Washington,  treaty  of,  254,  256. 
Watson,  P.  H.,  36. 
Webster,  Daniel,  n,  19,  23,  45,  182, 

271. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  36. 
Welles,  Gideon,  151, 167, 170, 171,  240, 

241,  245  to  247,  251. 
West  Point  Military  Academy,  87, 149. 
West  Virginia,  138,  165,  190. 


Western  States,  danger  of  their  growth, 

172. 

Wheeling  Bridge  case,  36,  139. 
Whig  party,  9,  39. 
Whig  Convention  of  1839,  18. 
Whig  Convention  of  1844,  19. 
Whiskey  insurrection,  155,  159. 
Whiskey,  tax  upon,  88,  no. 
Whyte,  Wm.  Pinkney,  231. 
Willey,  Waitman  T.,  95,  115. 
Williams,  George  H.,  118,  160,  162, 

165,  207. 

Williams  v.  Gibbs,  37. 
Wilmot  Proviso,  27. 
Wilson,  Henry,  27,  69,  70,  113,  120. 
Winans,  Ross  R.,  54. 
Winder,  W.  H.,  54. 
Winnebago  Indians,  94. 
Wirt,  William,  n,  13,  149. 
Wisconsin,  banking  in,  24;  road  in,  96. 
Woodsworth  Planing  Machine,  36. 
Worcester  County,  123. 
Wright,  William,  171. 

Yates,  Richard,  210,  211. 
Yucatan,  36. 


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